SAIR 10:Conservation and Change on Edinburgh's Defences: Archaeological Investigation and Building Recording of the Flodden Wall, Grassmarket 1998-2001

by John A Lawson & David Reed

with a contribution by Colin Wallace and illustrations by Jonathan Millar and Mike Middleton

ISBN 0-903903-79-2

Published in December 2003 by The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in association with The Council for British Archaeology and Historic Scotland, in Adobe Acrobat format. Available free of charge (see Terms & Conditions of Use).

Report Summary

This report presents the results of a historic building survey and archaeological watching brief undertaken between 1998 and 2001 during restoration work (undertaken as part of the Scottish Dance Base development) on the Flodden Wall running between Edinburgh's Grassmarket and Johnston Terrace. The Flodden Wall is the name given to the 16th-century extension of the capital's town defences, traditionally seen as having been constructed in the months following the defeat at Flodden in 1513. Prior to this project the extent and condition of this particular stretch of the Flodden Wall (the north-western boundary of the Grassmarket and a Scheduled Ancient Monument) was not fully understood. This project has shown that here the Flodden Wall and surrounding area had undergone three major phases of construction and redevelopment, from its origins in the early 16th century to the formation of a drying green (Granny's Green) to the west of the Wall in the late 19th century. In particular the results have demonstrated that the surviving southern section of the Wall here was largely rebuilt during the third quarter of the 18th century, when a complex of buildings was constructed along Kings Stables Road abutting the Wall's western face.

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Report content

	Title Page
	Table of content
	List of Illustrations
1	Summary
2	Introduction	John A Lawson & David Reed
	2.1 Methodology
	2.1.1 Building Survey
	2.1.2 Excavation
	2.2 Previous work on the Flodden Wall
3	Results	John A Lawson & David Reed
	3.1 Phase 1: Construction of the Flodden Wall (early 16th century)
	3.2 Phase 2: Reconstruction and development (16th century - c 1850)
	3.3 Phase 3: Granny's Green (post 1850)
4	Discussion and conclusions	John A Lawson & David Reed
	4.1 The Grassmarket area before the Flodden Wall
	4.2 The site and its setting through time
	4.3 Late medieval/early post-medieval urban walls in southern Scotland	Colin Wallace
	4.4 Conclusions
5	Acknowledgements
6	References
7	Index