SAIR 30:Archaeological monitoring in the streets of Musselburgh: recent discoveries

by Michael Kimber
with a contribution by Julie Franklin and illustrations by Elin Evertsson and Anna Faras Pagowska

ISBN 978 09039 0399 8

Published in May 2009 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).

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Report Abstract

Archaeological monitoring of water mains renewal in Musselburgh has provided new information on the medieval and post-medieval development of the burgh, as well as adding to known information on the vicus of the Roman fort, the Newbigging pottery and the town mill lade. Activity associated with the Newbigging pottery seems to have extended further to the west than the boundaries of the pottery indicated on 19th-century maps of the town, while Roman remains associated with the vicus survive in places beneath the road surface of Inveresk Brae. However, while archaeological deposits related to the medieval burgh were located broadly where expected, they were fragmentary in comparison with similar deposits from pipeline monitoring schemes in Perth, North Berwick and Crail. The data from Musselburgh are in part less coherent due to the kinds of work monitored within the burgh core, but it is probable that they also reflect a lesser degree of preservation of archaeological deposits beneath the road surface. This is partly due to modern development, and partly due to the geographic situation of the burgh, which does not appear to have encouraged the formation of stratified deposits sealed by wind-blown sand, as in North Berwick, or the anaerobic preservation conditions prevalent within Perth.

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Report content

	Title Page
	Table of Contents
	List of Illustrations
	List of Tables
1	Abstract
2	Introduction
3	Historical Background
	3.1 Roman Inveresk
	3.2 The medieval period and later
	3.2.1 Morphology of the burgh
4	Summary of Key Results
	4.1 Interventions around known sites
	4.1.1 The vicus
	4.1.2 The Newbigging pottery
	4.1.3 The mill lade
5	Distribution of Archaeological Deposits
	5.1 Musselburgh: High Street, Millhill, Kerr's Wynd, Mansfield Avenue, Kilwinning Place, Newbigging
	5.2 Fisherrow: North High Street, Market Street, Bridge Street
6	Artefacts and their Distribution by Julie Franklin
	6.1 Roman finds
	6.2 Medieval and post-medieval finds
7	Discussion and Interpretation
	7.1 The archaeology of Musselburgh
	7.1.1 Distribution of deposits
	7.1.2 Medieval Musselburgh
	7.1.3 Fisherrow
	7.2 Pipeline transects in historic burghs
	7.2.1 Reasons for variation – population and development
	7.2.2 Reasons for variation – geography
8	Conclusion
9	References