Between August 1985 and April 1986, an extended archaeological watching brief was undertaken by the Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust during the redevelopment of St John’s Square Shopping Centre in the middle of Perth. The results of the fieldwork and post excavation analyses, funded by Historic Scotland, have now been published for the first time thanks to funding from that organisation’s successor - Historic Environment Scotland.
The watching brief at St John’s Square was undertaken by members of an archaeological team excavating a site in nearby Canal Street. Limiting investigation to a watching brief, mainly on piling operations, was unavoidable at the time. St John’s Square was an extreme example of one of the most common types of archaeological projects – the watching brief – undertaken across the UK at the time. This particular watching brief predated the introduction of National Planning Policies, which now control the impact of development upon archaeology.
The design of the shopping centre at St John’s Square required massively robust foundations, so the watching brief comprised the monitoring and recording of 389 foundation pile holes and the cleaning and recording of 186 trenches and manholes excavated by the developer's construction contractor. The health and safety aspects of working close to machinery were considerable and no trenches were excavated by the archaeologists themselves
“Timbers, surfaces/floors and hearths/burning were observed near the High Street, with a lesser concentration behind South Street near the SW corner of the site,” said Catherine Smith, who compiled the publication report. “These are the areas
where archaeological features would be expected, situated on or close to the medieval street frontages.”.
Brief encounters: watching medieval archaeology emerge from the heart of Perth
A significant assemblage of medieval pottery, metal, bone, antler, leather and wooden artefacts recovered from rich midden deposits, floor surfaces, occupation deposits, structural timbers, pits and hearths sheds new light upon life in the heart of the medieval burgh of Perth in Scotland.
Medieval News