Excavations

Read our Daily Diary from our Mantle Walls Dig 23

Mantle Walls Dig 23 Daily Diary 

Dig 23 Report

Dig 2019

In 2019 Ancrum and District Heritage Society, in partnership with AOC Archaeology, undertook investigations at the site of Mantle Walls.

Excavations

Excavations took place at the Mantle Walls site from the 16th to the 27th of September. 

Our excavation aimed to confirm the nature, condition and date of the archaeological remains present on site.  We would like to thank all of our volunteers and hope to see you all again at our future projects.

Public Talks

We were delighted with the turnout for our Interim Results Talk on the 27th of September. Following the completion of the initial data report, project manager Jessica Lowther returned to the Village Hall in Ancrum on Monday the 4th of November to present a further talk on the excavation results.  

Results pertaining to finds analysis and sample processing will be available after the post-excavation programme of works has been completed. 

Workshops

Throughout the Mantle Walls project AOC offered workshops aimed at giving individuals training in three further aspects of archaeology - conservation, post excavation and archival research. These were:

Archival Research at Harestanes Visitor Centre

Post Excavation - Retent Processing at Ancrum Village Hall

Excavation Open Day

On Saturday the 21st of September the Mantle Walls site was open to visitors to view the excavations and learn a little about what we had found. 

With tours running throughout out the day, we were delighted to have engaged with over 200 members of the public, who had travelled from near and far, to find out about the dig and what could have been a Bishop of Glasgow's Palace on site.

Living History Day

Alongside the Mantle Walls project, Ancrum & District Heritage Society hosted a Community Day on Sunday the 22nd of September on the village green in Ancrum.

Despite poor weather, we had a steady flow of visitors throughout the day who had come to learn how ceramics were thrown, metal was worked, furniture was made, stone was carved and cloth was woven in the 13th century. We would like to thank the specialist crafters for their interesting demonstrations and the members of the society who ensured that the day ran smoothly. 

Excavation 2012

In 2010, masonry was recovered from the field margins and stones were being uncovered as the field was ploughed, as they had done for a number of years. Medieval and post-medieval pottery was identified when a local archaeologist inspected the site. Based on these discoveries, a geophysical survey was carried out in November 2011 (Maldonaldo 2011) and excavations were carried out informed by the survey in  2012.