What did I say about being excited to survey the orchard? That we expected it to be a golden nuggett of untouched land holding within it scatters of lead projectiles and other battle related artefacts? I think a swear word is appropriate here, but I'll save you from that.
The day started off wet but picked up later in the day and turned out to be lovely, albiet with some heavy showers in the late afternoon. We began work in the orchard, an area of ground opposite Calton Cottage and infront of the remnants of field bank and ditch, a potential area of intensive fighting during the initial stages of the battle. The orchard appears on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map of 1860s as an open field and it doesn't appear to have become enclosed until the 1930s. Importantly however, it had escaped being covered over by the football pitch and rugby field so represented a potential pocket of ground to investigate and could hold within it artefacts related to the battle in the topsoil.
No such luck! It became clear that the ground had been disturbed and possibly affected by a significant flood event in 2003 which placed the valley under 3ft of water! We found a Red Bull can about 30cm down which is not a good sign. Ryan excavated a small trial pit to assess the stratigraphy and found it to be mixed and homogenous with glass and coke fragments all the way through. There was a small area of ground to the northern end of the orchard which did appear to be better preserved. We found the faint remnants of a field bank which ran parallel to another more prominent field bank in the garden of the adjacent cottage. This did produce more interesting finds, a skillet leg (bronze pan or pot), a Penny dating to 1862 (Ryan liked this one as it was minted during the American Civil War) and a large horse tack buckle. That, I'm afraid to say, was it for the day.
Tomorrow we will be looking in the area of the old Philiphaugh Farm, but this will be limited as the buildings were demolished and the site covered with soil brought in from Dalkeith! Always the optimist though. Stay calm and carry on, or as I prefer, Heat Nann and Curry On.
Tonight I am off to Bowhill to hear a poetry reading as part of the Borders Festival of the Horse: http://www.bordersfestivalhorse.org/
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| Our Time Team moment - deciding where to go next |
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| The Orchard |
Tasha
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