Cousland days 8 and 9

Well the last couple of days held various excitements!   And of course it all happens at the end!!   Trenches 4 and 5 came down onto the robbed remains of the Residence ..  a much more comfortable place than the tiny castle.  And pottery, glass and other artefacts were recovered..  that strangely seemed to show the structure was still there in the mid 18^th century.   (see below)

 

 

 

    A check of Roy’s 1755 map, does indeed show a structure coming off at right angles from the walled garden!  Now, we also looked at the base of the walled garden, and lo and behold, it is made of sandstone, with limestone starting about ½ way up…  this relates to the demolition of the castle…  using the stone from the castle to build the wall…    then quarrying out the bedrock outcrop it sits on to get more stone…  hence…  end wall of castle is no more…  as poor Ross found out as he descended into a clay filled hole! 

 

 The Geophysics also came up with some interesting anomalies on the last day!   Such is life!    Perhaps we can get back in and investigate?  

 

 

 

  The finds are now being processed…  plans drawn, records digitised, documents searched, etc etc….     and a short report will be made in June…  though now we expect the project to last around 2 years..  culminating in a book.

 

 The final day was in a blizzard!   And backfilling is no fun at the best of times…  made worse by the cruel reality that turf being relaid is much harder when they are frozen blocks of ice!

 There are so many people to thanks for the project…  the People of Cousland, the YACs, the people who helped or offered equipment, the EAFS and the Scottish Detector Club, Louise Yeoman and George Haggerty, many many people…  but a big thanks to a few individuals…  Sheena for everything!   Marshall for allowing us in his field  -  and thanks for the help at the end…  !  Never to be forgotten!   And to Michael and David  Dalrymple for permissions too.    To all…   this has been a superb project, and I am so proud of us all, for starting to uncover the real and fascinating story of Cousland!  

 See you all soon!

   That’s all Folks…   for now anyway.!   Its back in October.