45-47 Gallowgate
E17
DescriptionExcavation in 1979 by Aberdeen City Council Archaeological Unit recorded a medieval frontage dating from the late 12th Century, comprising dumping, building then ditches and drains, fencing and cobbles. The excavation, undertaken in a pend opening on to Gallowgate, yielded a succession of fifteen occupation phases dating from the late 12th to the 19th century, with stratified deposits reaching circa 2.5 m deep. A period of dumping in the late 12th or 13th century was followed, as Gallowgate developed, by the construction of a building with a grooved sill-beam on a stone foundation. This had been destroyed by a ditch which was replaced by a wattle- lined drain, both near to a boundary, which was continued throughout the 14th century by a series of wattle fences. Later in the 14th century, two sill-beam structures were successively built on the site and a floor and wattle wall may have been part of a building or yard, all respecting this boundary. Only fragments of the buildings were in the excavated area, the rest having been cut away by the later cellars. In the 15th and 16th centuries a pend was established on the boundary, with three superimposed paths, the uppermost made of well- set cobbles. This appeared to have become an internal passageway in the 19th-century building, which was demolished several years prior to excavation. The finds from this site are in the collections of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums. See also NJ90NW0160 for further excavation, 45-75 Gallowgate.Location InfoNational Grid Reference: NJ 9415 0657
Easting: 394152.966427203, Northing: 806574.906749277
Postcode: AB25 1BY
Site located in a pend opening on to Gallowgate. (Murray 1982)
NotesSee Murray, JC (ed.) (1982). Excavations in the Medieval Burgh of Aberdeen 1973-1981. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph Series No. 2. Edinburgh. 114, for summarised account of the excavation. See also Dennison, E. and Stones, J. (1997). Historic Aberdeen. Edinburgh: Historic Scotland. 40-45, for more context. Reference Numbers
- NJ90NW0103
- NJ90NW 80
- 20206
