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Recent excavations at Spoutmouth in the Gallowgate area of Glasgow have revealed evidence of the city’s medieval expansion.
The site was a car park for years, and will be redeveloped as social housing. It lies on the edge of medieval Glasgow, so – as part of the planning conditions – GUARD Archaeology was contracted to carry out an excavation before construction. During this investigation, at a depth of 4.5m (15ft) below the current street level, a series of exceptionally well-preserved wooden posts were uncovered along with some woven wattle fencing. They had survived thanks to the site’s consistently waterlogged condition: it lies on the south side of the former course of the Molendinar Burn, which now flows underground, having been culverted in the 1800s.
Caught up among the fencing were numerous sherds of medieval pottery, animal bone, and other organic materials. It is believed that these date to around the 13th-14th centuries, when Glasgow underwent its first wave of major expansion, while the fencing might reflect part of the medieval burgh’s very early eastward extension.
Commenting on the discovery, Thomas Muir, who is leading the GUARD Archaeology team, said: ‘We have unearthed 63 upright posts arranged in three lines defining three broad linear areas. As these are so deep, the site is constantly flooding, but this is also why these wooden remains have survived for so long… This is a remarkable survival of organic archaeology in an area of the city that has witnessed substantial development over the many years since Glasgow was first established – a small sliver of medieval Glasgow that has somehow survived centuries of building and rebuilding.’
The excavations are expected to conclude soon, and the finds will then undergo post-excavation analysis.
Text: Kathryn Krakowka / Image: GUARD Archaeology Ltd
