Millburn Street
E80
DescriptionA trial trenching evaluation was carried out by ACC Archaeological Unit in October - December 2005 on an area bounded by Crown Street, Portland Street, Millburn Street and South College Street prior to the construction of flats. The area is the former location of the hamlet called Potters' Creek, the location of the Aberdeen Pottery, initially run by John Auldjo (NJ90NW0769) . Potters' Creek is indicated in Milne's map of 1789 where it appears as a group of about 10 buildings close to the mouth of the Ferryhill Burn, a branch of which provided the power for their wheels. The trenching recorded evidence of the old Dee Village and other 19th to early 20th century buildings. No features relating to the Pottery were located; any remains had probably been destroyed by construction of more recent buildings. A large number of finds relating to the Pottery were recovered from two trenches. These included bisque sherds of cups, mugs, jugs, bowls, teapots and several other vessel types. These vessels had been fired once, slip decoration applied and had then been broken or damaged prior to a second glaze firing. Many sherds displayed breaks covered in glaze indicating that they had broken in the kiln and glaze had dripped across the break. Several examples of kiln furniture included saggars, the large fire-clay vessels which were used in the kiln to protect the wares from smoke and intense heat, as well as a large number of spacers used to keep vessels apart in the kiln. These finds are the first evidence of the products of this important Pottery and are of extreme importance to the history of Aberdeen. There is no indication when these clay seams were first exploited but the name 'Clayhills' is mentioned from at least the late 14th century. According to Milne, near the burn were 'banks of laminated clay so steep in the face that sand martins tunnelled long holes in them, where they brought out their young in safety'. Evidence of clay beds was found at 104 South College Street approximately 350m north of the site and clay pits were observed on an assessment at the junction of Affleck Street and Crown Street during a development. The Aberdeen Pottery was first mentioned in the Aberdeen Journal of 3rd October 1749 where it declares that he manufactured 'pan-tile and brick [as well as] brown earthenware'. By 1771 it was reported that Auldjo was making 'Cream-coloured, Tortoiseshell, Black and Brown Earthen-Ware, Flower-pots, Water-pipes etc'. The site also covers part of the area of the Dee Village (NJ90NW0762) built in the 18th century and demolished in the 1890s after it developed into a slum and was bought by the Town Council. In the 1920s it was occupied by the Dee Village Works a steam powered generating station and latterly by Scottish Hydro-Electric.Location InfoNational Grid Reference: NJ 9409 0536
Easting: 394099.229878869, Northing: 805364.71728191
Postcode: AB11 6SZ
NotesCameron, A. (2005e) 'Millburn Street/South College Street (Aberdeen parish), evaluation', Discovery Excav Scot, vol. 6, 2005.Reference Numbers
- NJ90NW0914
- 281369
- NJ90NW2622
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