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Watching Brief

Date 23 March 1998

Event ID 546295

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/546295

NT 5486 3417 A watching brief was carried out at Melrose Abbey (NMRS NT 53 SW 30) in March 2000 during a programme of cable trenching. The work consisted of excavating a narrow, 300mm deep trench over a distance of 91.4m, externally and within the abbey church. The whole of the trench was hand-dug, with archaeological monitoring covering the section of excavations within the church.

It is known that the interior of the church was extensively cleared and landscaped in 1923, and presumably much of the levelling material located in the trench sections would date from that period. A soil layer located throughout the church might be an early natural accumulation of soil over a thin layer of demolition debris, which was in turn sealed over in the 1920s by red sandstone waste material.

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