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Brora Salt Works

Pit(S) (Period Unassigned), Salt Works (18th Century)

Site Name Brora Salt Works

Classification Pit(S) (Period Unassigned), Salt Works (18th Century)

Canmore ID 294450

Site Number NC90SW 55

NGR NC 90365 03271

NGR Description NC 905 034 and NC 90479 03298

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/294450

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Administrative Areas

  • Council Highland
  • Parish Clyne
  • Former Region Highland
  • Former District Sutherland
  • Former County Sutherland

Archaeology Notes

NC90SW 55 905 034

NC 905 034 In October and November 2005 CFA Archaeology Ltd assisted local volunteers and members of the North of Scotland Archaeology Society (NoSAS) in the investigation of remains on Brora Back Beach. Building remains had previously been recorded eroding out of the sand dunes and a small-scale excavation of these remains in 2004 by the SCAPE Trust and local volunteers demonstrated the extent and potential importance of the site. Historical background research had also been carried out by local enthusiast Jacqueline Aitken, and provided information on the development of the site as a whole. The aim of the current phase of work was to carry out a full survey of the area, train the local volunteers in basic archaeological skills, and carry out further small excavations. The information collected will be used to inform further work in the area.

A full field survey was carried out of the whole area from Lower Brora in the NE to just before the firing range in the SW. It recorded 36 sites of interest including the radio station and associated aerial bases, 9 coal pits, 4 boundary walls, 5 buildings, 5 middens, a harbour, trackways, clearance heaps, and a findspot. A total station survey was carried out to plot all the features onto a base map. Photographs of all features were taken.

Small-scale excavation was carried out at the sites of two buildings and an extensive industrial midden. This involved the exposure and recording of eroding material visible in the sand dune section. Map evidence has suggested that these remains could be that of a saltworks dating to the 18th century. A flagstone floor and the E wall of a building were revealed as well as the possible back wall of a building and a large industrial midden comprising primarily of burnt coal, ash and shale.

Auger surveying was carried out next to the 'Saltman's House', where a midden had been identified eroding out of the coastal section. The survey showed that the midden was quite extensive and mostly comprised demolition material. An auger survey was also carried out over the old golf course within the eastern section of the study area. Little archaeological material was uncovered in this area but this may be due to the landscaping of this area for use as a golf course. Further auger survey was carried out over the eroding building remains on the coastal edge to determine their extent. This survey demonstrated that one of the buildings extends back into the dune whereas the other does not, showing the latter has almost completely eroded away.

Archive to be deposited with NMRS.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland.

S Badger, 2006.

Activities

Ground Survey (October 2005 - November 2005)

NC 905 034 In October and November 2005 CFA Archaeology Ltd assisted local volunteers and members of the North of Scotland Archaeology Society (NoSAS) in the investigation of remains on Brora Back Beach. Building remains had previously been recorded eroding out of the sand dunes and a small-scale excavation of these remains in 2004 by the SCAPE Trust and local volunteers demonstrated the extent and potential importance of the site. Historical background research had also been carried out by local enthusiast Jacqueline Aitken, and provided information on the development of the site as a whole. The aim of the current phase of work was to carry out a full survey of the area, train the local volunteers in basic archaeological skills, and carry out further small excavations. The information collected will be used to inform further work in the area.

A full field survey was carried out of the whole area from Lower Brora in the NE to just before the firing range in the SW. It recorded 36 sites of interest including the radio station and associated aerial bases, 9 coal pits, 4 boundary walls, 5 buildings, 5 middens, a harbour, trackways, clearance heaps, and a findspot. A total station survey was carried out to plot all the features onto a base map. Photographs of all features were taken.

Small-scale excavation was carried out at the sites of two buildings and an extensive industrial midden. This involved the exposure and recording of eroding material visible in the sand dune section. Map evidence has suggested that these remains could be that of a saltworks dating to the 18th century. A flagstone floor and the E wall of a building were revealed as well as the possible back wall of a building and a large industrial midden comprising primarily of burnt coal, ash and shale.

Auger surveying was carried out next to the 'Saltman's House', where a midden had been identified eroding out of the coastal section. The survey showed that the midden was quite extensive and mostly comprised demolition material. An auger survey was also carried out over the old golf course within the eastern section of the study area. Little archaeological material was uncovered in this area but this may be due to the landscaping of this area for use as a golf course. Further auger survey was carried out over the eroding building remains on the coastal edge to determine their extent. This survey demonstrated that one of the buildings extends back into the dune whereas the other does not, showing the latter has almost completely eroded away.

Archive to be deposited with NMRS.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland.

Excavation (October 2005 - November 2005)

NC 905 034 In October and November 2005 CFA Archaeology Ltd assisted local volunteers and members of the North of Scotland Archaeology Society (NoSAS) in the investigation of remains on Brora Back Beach. Building remains had previously been recorded eroding out of the sand dunes and a small-scale excavation of these remains in 2004 by the SCAPE Trust and local volunteers demonstrated the extent and potential importance of the site. Historical background research had also been carried out by local enthusiast Jacqueline Aitken, and provided information on the development of the site as a whole. The aim of the current phase of work was to carry out a full survey of the area, train the local volunteers in basic archaeological skills, and carry out further small excavations. The information collected will be used to inform further work in the area.

A full field survey was carried out of the whole area from Lower Brora in the NE to just before the firing range in the SW. It recorded 36 sites of interest including the radio station and associated aerial bases, 9 coal pits, 4 boundary walls, 5 buildings, 5 middens, a harbour, trackways, clearance heaps, and a findspot. A total station survey was carried out to plot all the features onto a base map. Photographs of all features were taken.

Small-scale excavation was carried out at the sites of two buildings and an extensive industrial midden. This involved the exposure and recording of eroding material visible in the sand dune section. Map evidence has suggested that these remains could be that of a saltworks dating to the 18th century. A flagstone floor and the E wall of a building were revealed as well as the possible back wall of a building and a large industrial midden comprising primarily of burnt coal, ash and shale.

Auger surveying was carried out next to the 'Saltman's House', where a midden had been identified eroding out of the coastal section. The survey showed that the midden was quite extensive and mostly comprised demolition material. An auger survey was also carried out over the old golf course within the eastern section of the study area. Little archaeological material was uncovered in this area but this may be due to the landscaping of this area for use as a golf course. Further auger survey was carried out over the eroding building remains on the coastal edge to determine their extent. This survey demonstrated that one of the buildings extends back into the dune whereas the other does not, showing the latter has almost completely eroded away.

Archive to be deposited with NMRS.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland.

Excavation (2005 - 2007)

NC 90479 03298 Clyne Heritage Society, assisted by the SCAPE Trust, NoSAS, local volunteers and three professional archaeologists, undertook the excavation of part of the salt pans along the Back Beach at Brora. Following on from the auger survey carried out by CFA in 2005, it was decided to open up four trenches in the area of the 'Old' and 'New' Salt Works, dating to 1598-1617 and c1767-77 respectively. Both phases of salt production at Brora, along with the coal mining which provided the fuel for the saltworks, were sponsored by the Sutherland Estate. This is therefore a unique site which offers an unrivalled opportunity to learn more about early attempts to establish industry in the Highlands.

In 2005, a mortared wall, 1.90m high, associated with a flagged floor, was recorded in the eroding face of a dune at the E end of the site; it is possible that this building is on the site of the 'Old Salt House' as recorded on an estate map of 1813 (Site 2). Augering suggested that the wall extended back from the present edge of the dune for approximately 3m. It was hoped that by inserting a trench behind the dune edge, it would be possible

to find the return of the wall and to dig safely to a depth which would allow the floor deposits to be explored. In the event, it was found that the wall did not extend as far as the augering had suggested, although the return of the wall was uncovered right at the seaward edge of the trench. To avoid destabilising the dune, it was recorded photographically and the trench backfilled. A second trench was opened up over Site 19, a rectangular building, oriented NE/SW, which is identified as the ruins of the saltman's house on the 1813 map. On the ground, the building appeared as a regularly shaped depression defined by low banks, with more distinctly defined gable ends. Midden deposits, the full extent of which could not be identified during the 2005

auger survey, appeared to extend from the S gable to outcrop in the face of the dunes, 10m to the S. A trench, 8.4m long by 2m wide, was laid out across the long axis of the structure, extending beyond both long walls in order to pick up the midden on the S side and to expose an area outside the building to the N. Removal of the turf revealed a bank of rubble, which turned out to overlie the partially robbed E and N walls of the building.

The mortared walls, which stood to 34 courses in height, were very well constructed and similar in character to those visibly eroding out of the dunes. A slighter mound of rubble overlay the S wall, which had a central doorway, its threshold enhanced by decoratively laid bricks. In the interior of the building, a thick deposit containing relatively modern material, as well as animal bones and a range of ceramics, appeared to have been dumped inside in order to infill the hollow formed by the walls. The eastern half of the interior was cobbled, but no clear floor surface was exposed in the rest of the excavated area. The line of a substantial wall, aligned E/W and with a doorway towards its E end, running along the base of the dune to the SW of Site 2, was uncovered and drawn in 2004 (Site 4). The position of this wall suggests that it might be associated with

the 'Old Salt House' on the 1813 estate map. Its location means that it is very vulnerable to the erosion evidenced in the photographic and drawn record which now extends back to the 1970s and, although of very similar character, it is at a much lower level than the other buildings believed to be associated with the salt works. Given that its condition has also deteriorated markedly since 2004 (displacing the jambs of the doorway), it was decided to see if the full extent of the wall could be exposed and, by opening wider trenches across the best surviving stretch of walling, explore whether any deposits were preserved at the base of the wall. Though these trenches did prove that a wider basal course or an additional face inserted to strengthen the wall was present at the east end, further to the W, the wall is now so damaged that its original extents can no longer be determined. Traces of an old ground surface were found on the landward side of the wall close to the doorway.

In spring 2007, a wall eroding out of the dune was exposed just to the SW of the saltman's house, in the vicinity of the middens recorded as Sites 6 and 7 in 2005. This would place this building in the vicinity of the 'New Salt House' recorded on the 1813 map. Another map, dating to the early 1770s, which depicts the salt works when they were still in operation, shows four roofed buildings in this location, including a long structure which is annotated as 'Salt Pans'. Exposing a 4m stretch of the wall face proved that it was very similar in character and scale to those exposed in the other three trenches, with a doorway towards the east end of the exposed stretch. Probing into the edge of the dune suggested that the wall continued 4.3m to the E of the doorway, where there appears to be a clear corner, visible in the face of the dune. This orientation indicates that it might

be the long building, annotated as 'Salt Pans', on the 1770s map. The middens on the outside of the wall, which are known locally as 'the coal road', similarly rise up against the wall face, but also extend into the doorway of the structure. The upper midden layers stopped at the internal threshold, suggesting that they formed while the building was still in use, while the lower middens, which are separated from them by a thin layer of sand,

extended in the structure where their trampled upper surface suggested that they had acted as the floor of the building. An L-shaped trench was laid out behind the wall, revealing a large amount of stone (and pantiles) in a similar matrix of yellow grey clay and mortar. Below the clay was a thick buildup of windblown deposits, which sloped down markedly to the E. These appear to have mounded up over the brick-built flue of a chimney, revealed immediately below the clay and rubble layer. As excavation continued, it became obvious that this

fireplace was contained in a cross-shaped stone wall and that there had been a second hearth in the SW angle of the wall, which was only partly exposed in the trench. The base of the second hearth consisted of heavily burnt red sandstone, but no traces of a similarly brick-built flue remained. It seems probable that these hearths confirm the identification of this building as the 'salt pans' of the 1770s map and that the stone wall would have supported the iron pans, heated by the fires below them. It is hoped that further excavation of Trenches 2 and 4 next year will allow both buildings to be fully exposed, enabling clarification of their function and date.

Funder: Historic Scotland; Heritage Lottery Fund; The SCAPE Trust; NoSAS, Sutherland Estate.

Excavation (16 August 2008 - 31 August 2008)

NC 9047 0329 The excavation of the salt pans along the Back Beach continued 16–31 August 2008. Work concentrated on the building partially exposed last year in Trench 4, which can be associated with the New Salt Works, dating to c1767–1777. One (unexcavated) corner of this building had collapsed over the winter. Dry weather during the early summer had exacerbated the damage caused by the winter storms, hastening the collapse of buildings believed to be associated with the Old Salt Works (1598–1617), just to the E of the main excavation area.

The 2008 trench exposed a substantial building, neatly constructed from hard white quartzite boulders. Much of the masonry was covered in barnacles, confirming documentary evidence that many of the stones had been taken directly from the beach. Both the internal and external walls appear to have been clay mortared and then harled. A substantial amount of broken tile overlying the floor deposits reinforced the theory that this building had a pantile roof. This appears to contradict the mention of slate in the 1767 lease of the salt works and the use of turf for the salters’ houses, which were being built a year later; the tiles may have allowed better ventilation.

The building had been divided into two, the centrally placed fireplaces identified last year lying to either side of this wall. The eastern half of the building, measuring 3.7m N/S by 6.8m E/W internally, had a brick fireplace,

contained with stone spur walls and a much heat-damaged hearth. The area around the fireplace had been covered with Visitors at the open day watch the excavation of the 18th-century salt pans at Brora roughly shaped slabs, while the rest of the floor appeared to have been cobbled. As the cobbles had been set into sand,

they had required repair, and the fact that they survive only at the E end suggests they did not last long. Above the cobbles and covering the rest of the floor area the deposits were complex, comprising thin layers of midden material, predominantly unburnt shale/coal fragments, which as they were very compacted had probably formed an effective floor surface. This half of the building had a centrally placed doorway in the S wall (excavated last year).

The western half of the building was dominated by the hearth complex backing onto the division wall. Though this was not dismantled, enough was revealed to determine the phasing of the hearths. The first hearth was constructed in stub walls matching those on the E side of the division wall. This was largely obscured by a slightly smaller second hearth, which had been built on top of it, its base much higher than the floor level. This hearth was made of sandstone. Finally, the spur walls were extended and a brick and stone platform pierced by two ‘flues’ supported a raised hearth, enclosed by very roughly built brick and stone walling. The base of the fire must have rested on the clay used to form the top of the platform as this had been turned orange-red by heat.

The platform had been built on substantial stone slabs, which formed the central part of the floor. These were of enormous thickness and suggest activities requiring a very solid surface. The slabs did not extend eastwards as far as the division wall, the gaps on either side of the hearth being filled with a deep deposit of unburnt coal fragments. Though not as concentrated, coal also appears to have been piled up against the spur walls on the E side of the division wall, staining the stonework. On the SE side, two whole peats were found at the base of the coal deposit.

At the W end of the floor slabs, the situation is far less clear. A number of intercutting pits had been dug into

clean windblown sand, while a line of probable stakeholes suggested the presence of a wooden partition. One side of a doorway was discovered in the S wall in the SW corner of the trench. This confirmed that the stakeholes represented an internal partition and that the building continued into the section, making its western half at least 5m long. Time constraints, combined with the complexity of the deposits, meant that excavation stopped at this point, leaving the W end of the building intact, to be uncovered next year if possible.

The middens known locally as the ‘coal road’ and visible in the face of the dune against the outside face of the

building, were found to extend right around its E end. The midden material had been laid down in horizontal layers, some dominated by burnt and others by unburnt shale/coal fragments. The impression given is not so much of a ‘road’ as of a large amount of waste material used to create a firm working surface around the buildings. A number of U-shaped cuts dug into the windblown sand below these deposits, both inside and outside the building, suggest previous use of the site.

There are a number of still unanswered questions, particularly regarding the nature of the deposits at the W

end of the building. Flake hammer scale was identified between the slabs around the hearth complex in the eastern half of the building. This was possibly derived from repairs to the pans, which because of salt corrosion would have been undertaken frequently. However, given the number of iron objects recovered it is possible that the hearth complex in the western half functioned as a forge. This interpretation is reinforced by the relatively small size of the building, which would not have been large enough to contain even one pan. Although the size of the pans at Brora is not known, they typically measured about 18 x 9ft x 18in (5.49 x 2.74 x 0.46m). A pan of this size would have been a tight fit in a building only 3.7m wide, particularly in view of the fact that at St Monans the pan houses varied between 8.5–8.7m and 9.2–9.7m wide.

Apart from the fireplace on the W side of the division wall, which is domestic in scale, there is nothing to indicate the function of this half of the building and it may have been used for storage. The high quality of the ceramic finds, which appear to support a late 18th-century date, contradicts the impression of an industrial building.

In addition to the main trench, a number of test pits were dug to explore anomalies identified by the geophysics

undertaken by Orkney College Geophysics Unit in June 2008. These produced largely negative results, apart from one dug upslope from the Saltman’s house, identified on the basis of Farey’s 1813 map and lying just inland of the main trench. This revealed a roughly rectangular area of very neatly laid cobbling, on which was found a sherd of late 18th-century pottery. Below the cobbling and separated from it by a build-up of windblown sand was a thick midden deposit, consisting principally of shells. The remains of a building with associated floor deposits, which might form part of the Old Salt works, proved too precarious to examine this year, though as it continues to collapse the floor deposits become more accessible.

The second season of excavation has confirmed the quality of the remains and their potential to reveal much about the industrial history of this area. Work was undertaken with assistance from professional archaeologists and volunteers. The enthusiasm and energy of the volunteers, mostly locals, numbering 35 in total and ranging from 5 to 75 in age has contributed a huge amount to the project. It is hoped that excavation at both the Old and New Salt works can continue next year.

Archive: RCAHMS (intended)

Funder: Historic Scotland; Heritage Lottery Fund, Awards For All, The SCAPE Trust, NoSAS and Sutherland Estate

Janet Hooper (Clyne Heritage Society), 2008

Excavation (15 August 2009 - 30 August 2009)

NC 9047 0329 The Clyne Heritage Society with the SCAPE Trust undertook a third year of excavation from 15–30 August 2009. The excavation was funded by Historic Scotland and their support is gratefully acknowledged. The principal outcomes of this season’s work were:

• The almost total excavation of the buildings previously revealed in Trenches 2 and 4.

• The secure identification of excavated buildings and features with those depicted on historic maps.

• Direct evidence of salt production in the form of waste material, known as pan-scratch.

• The recognition of the potential of the remains of the ‘Old Salt Works’, in use for short periods between 1598

and 1617.

It is now certain that the long building annotated ‘Salt Pans’ and the structure lying at 90° to the coastline on John Kirk’s 1772 estate plan showing the salt works in use, have succumbed completely to erosion. Of the two other buildings shown on the plan, a concentration of stone, brick, mortar and tile eroding out of the coast edge is probably all that remains of the eastern structure, but the structure in Trench 4, partly excavated in 2007 and 2008, is almost certainly, the more westerly of the two buildings.

The excavation of the building in Trench 4 was completed during 2009 and demonstrated that its W end was separated by an internal partition, of possible mortared timber construction, from the hearth complex in its centre. Most deposits contemporary with the use of the building on the E side of the partition were truncated by a pit (c2.4m in diameter, 1.2m deep) that was excavated and backfilled in the standing building just prior to its demolition and extensive robbing. It was probably dug to retrieve equipment once the salt works had gone out of use. A brick-lined conduit, possibly containing a pipe, ran along the seaward side of the building and may have brought water in/out of the structure. The excavation of the W end of this building confirmed its industrial use, though the precise nature of the activity taking place remains unclear.

Trench 2 was extended to uncover the W end of the Saltman’s house with the aim of establishing its dimensions and clarifying its function. Like the building in Trench 4, this structure also appears to be around 15m in length and to have been divided into two, with fireplaces set into each side of the division wall. Both fireplaces appear to be on a domestic scale. The fact that it is referred to as the ‘Saltmaker’s House’, rather than simply as the Saltman’s House, in the text accompanying John Farey’s 1813 ‘Mineral Map of the Coal Field near Brora’, could indicate that it was divided into two smaller units as dwellings for the salt workers. Alternatively the two fireplaces may indicate that this building was used for the drying and storage of the salt.

A significant conclusion from this year’s work is that this building appears to post-date the establishment of the salt works in 1767 and the making of the first salt, as pan scratch has been recovered from the primary deposits. Pan- or stone-scratch was a crust of calcium sulphate and magnesium chloride which had to be chipped from the pans at regular intervals, a process known as ‘paddling’. This would confirm the accuracy of the two maps on which our understanding of the layout of the ‘New’ Salt Works rests. The Saltman’s House does not appear on Kirk’s map of 1772, but it is the only structure depicted on Farey’s map of 1812, drawn up

after the salt works had gone out of use in 1777.

A 26m long trench (Trench 7) was laid out parallel to the shoreline to the E of Trench 4 to investigate geophysical anomalies recorded in the 2008 survey (undertaken by Orkney College Geophysics Unit), one of which appeared to correspond with the ‘Intended Waggon Road’ shown on Kirk’s 1772 map. This was identified in the eastern part of the trench as a cobbled roadway with a surface of highly compacted coal dust. In the western half of the trench a distinctive geophysical anomaly that corresponded with a low mound was found to be an industrial midden composed of numerous discrete dumps of burnt stone, coal, mortar, clay, ash and concentrations of pan-scratch. The ‘Waggon Road’ and midden are contemporary and the ground surface

between and around them was covered with a layer of coal dust, apparently deposited directly onto windblown sand with no trace of any vegetation. This gives an insight into the industrial environment of the time and the potential instability of the contemporary landscape.

The continued erosion of the large dune which contains the remains of the ‘Old’ Salt Works has revealed that the surviving remains of the building partially recorded in 2007 are far more substantial than previously thought. Newly exposed fragments of masonry, quite distinct in build and materials from those of the 18th-century ‘New Salt Works’, indicate that a NW–SE oriented building at least 15m long may survive in the dune. The existence of a largely intact building raises the possibility of recovering a substantial insight into the ‘Old’

Salt Works. Since it is under considerable threat from coastal erosion, it is hoped that this building can form the focus of work in 2010.

The third season of excavation at Brora has significantly increased our understanding of the 18th-century Brora salt works, and highlighted the important research potential of the ‘Old’ Salt Works. Again the enthusiasm and energy of the volunteers has made the biggest contribution to the project.

Archive: RCAHMS (intended). Report: HHER

Funder: Historic Scotland, The SCAPE Trust and Sutherland Estate

Janet Hooper, Joanna Hambly and Jacqueline Aitken – Clyne Heritage Society

Excavation (16 July 2010 - 8 August 2010)

NC 90470 03307 (centred on) The SCAPE Trust and the Clyne Heritage Society undertook a fourth season of excavation from 16 July–8 August 2010. The excavation was funded by Historic Scotland and their support is gratefully acknowledged. The site was excavated by volunteers, who once again made the most significant contribution to the success of the project.

Documentary evidence records that Lady Jane Gordon, Countess of Sutherland, established a salt pan here in 1598. In 1618, there is a reference to the iron of the pans being sold, probably to help pay off estate debts following the death of her son John, the 12th Earl, in 1616. The main

focus of this year’s excavation was the site of the ‘Old Salt Works’, which is marked on John Farey’s 1823 mineral map. Work was focused on this building as this area of sand dune had suffered particularly badly from coastal erosion over the winter of 2009. The principal outcomes of this season’s work were:

• the total excavation and recording of the critically at risk parts of the 16th/17th-century building;

• recovery of evidence showing the quality, status and uniqueness of the building for the historical period in this area;

• recovery of evidence showing that the excavated building was contemporary with large quantities of industrial midden material and the remains of a substantial wall (now mostly gone), located on the beach c20m to the S–SW, previously recorded by the Clyne Heritage Society

(2005);

• the excavation and recording of a lime kiln built into the ruinous remains of the salt works building.

A 12m x 8m trench (Trench 9) was machine excavated over the site of the visibly eroding building. An additional c30m long narrow strip of the dune face, extending W from the main trench, was excavated by hand. The extension aimed:

• to ascertain the full length of the eroding building in Trench 9;

• to investigate industrial midden deposits occasionally exposed in the dune face;

• to investigate the relationship between these deposits, the building in Trench 9 and the remains of the substantial wall formerly visible on the beach.

The excavations at the salt works revealed the eastern half and the entire surviving face of the S wall of an E–W oriented building, with overall external dimensions of 16.4 x 5.8m. An internal wall, flanked on either side by a doorway, divided the building into two rooms, an E room measuring 10.4 x 4.4m internally and a smaller W room of 3.7 x 4.4m internally. Only the easternmost 8m of the building was fully exposed and excavated. The external face of the westward 8m of surviving S wall, including the doorways and dividing wall, were revealed and recorded in section, making their internal dimensions conjectural. The c2m high remains of the N and E (gable end) wall of the building were exposed in Trench 9. The SW corner of the building and the S wall had been destroyed by coastal

erosion. The building was constructed of roughly hewn beach boulders, almost certainly collected from the adjacent beach. The exception was the openings for the doorways, which were constructed with chamfered stone door jambs carved from the softer pale yellow Sputie sandstone, probably quarried about a kilometre S of the site. A mason’s mark was carved into the outside face of the W door jamb of each doorway at ground level. Wall construction was random uncoursed with a rough face finish and stressed

quoins. The walls were bonded with lime mortar. There is good evidence that the internal and external faces of the wall were harled with the same hard white lime mortar. The floor of the exposed part of the building was laid with angular flagstones, bedded onto clean beach sand. The only

features recorded in the E room exposed in Trench 9 were two substantial postholes and an area of rounded beach boulders within the flagstone floor, which sealed a pit containing slag and fish bone. A fragment of post-medieval oxidised ware and one of post-medieval reduced ware, recovered from beneath the flagstone floor, were the only ceramic finds in

the building. Two tiny sherds of plate glass were recovered from demolition deposits. The posthole and pit fills contained greater quantities of finds comprising fish bone, slag-like and clinker-like material and iron objects. The surviving remains of the E room of the building revealed in Trench 9, Back Beach Brora. Coastal erosion has destroyed the S wall in the main excavation trench. A fragment of the later lime kiln can be seen in the far corner. The hard ground surface in front of (S) of the building was made up of highly compacted layers of burnt fuel and ash. This deposit was traced W in the section for >20m, becoming interleaved with increasingly thick industrial midden deposits. The midden deposits were at their thickest and appear to terminate at the substantial wall on the beach. The stratigraphy of the midden deposits indicates deliberate spreads of material to form a clinker road/surface. This would have linked the building on the beach with the building recorded in Trench 9, a few metres to the NE and higher up in the dunes. The massive quantities of clinker and the thickness of the layers of midden material in proximity to the wall on the beach, relative to the thin spreads in the vicinity of the building in Trench 9, suggests that the material originates from activity carried out in the building on the beach. This evidence, together with the lack of evidence associated with the process of salt panning in the building in Trench 9,

indicates the building on the beach is most likely to have been the pan house, with the building in Trench 9, or at least the E room, functioning as a possible storehouse. Some time after the building in Trench 9 was abandoned and a c1m thick deposit of windblown sand had accumulated

in the E room, the NE corner of the ruinous walls were modified to accommodate a lime kiln. The inside faces of the walls were lined with clay bonded, medium sized angular blocks of limestone and sandstone. A massive wall was constructed of boulders and apparently bonded with turf, to form the W side of the kiln bowl. A flue hole was inserted into the existing N wall. The whole of the S side of the kiln has been destroyed by erosion. However, it is probable that the draw hole would have been located in the S wall. The kiln bowl had a diameter of 1.8m at the base and

2.3m at the top and survived to 1.3m high. Unusually, a large quantity of lime remained inside the kiln bowl. The kiln structure is of a simple bowl-shaped combustion chamber. There was no evidence of a grate or supporting bars to separate the fire from the charge, so it is likely that the fire was lit at the base and the charge layered directly upon it. The kiln therefore must have been fired periodically, i.e. loaded, fired, cooled and emptied, then reloaded. Quantities of small limestone chippings were recovered adjacent to the outside of the W kiln wall, and identical chippings were recovered from within the burning chamber, where the charge had not fully combusted. The evidence of percussion bulbs on larger limestone cobble fragments clearly indicated where they had been deliberately broken. The origin of the limestone is almost certainly the adjacent beach. No dating evidence was recovered from deposits associated with the lime kiln. However, it does not appear on estate maps from the mid-18th century onwards, so must pre-date these maps.

Archive: RCAHMS (intended). Report: Highland Council and

RCAHMS

Funder: Historic Scotland

Field Visit (15 August 2011 - 13 December 2011)

NC 90470 03307 A laser scan survey of buildings associated with the 16th/17th-century saltpan industry at Back Beach was undertaken 15 August – 13 December 2011. The laser scanning was considered an appropriate method to quickly record a structure which is being eroded by the sea. Scans were taken of all elevations with a highest resolution one taken of an area of graffiti.

Archive: ORCA and SCAPE

Funder: SCAPE

Mark Littlewood, ORCA, 2012

(Source: DES)

Excavation (27 July 2011 - 22 August 2011)

NC 90470 03307 (centred on) The SCAPE Trust and the Clyne Heritage Society undertook a fifth season of excavation from 27 July–22 August 2011. The excavation was funded by Historic Scotland and their support is gratefully acknowledged. The site was excavated by volunteers, who once again made the most significant contribution to the success of the project.

Documentary evidence records that Lady Jane Gordon, Countess of Sutherland, established a salt pan here in 1598. In 1618, there is a reference to the iron of the pans being sold, probably to help pay off estate debts following the death of her son John, the 12th Earl, in 1616. The main focus of this year’s excavation was the site of the Old Salt House, which is marked on John Farey’s 1823 mineral map. The 2011 excavations uncovered the remainder of the well preserved building first revealed in 2010 (DES 2010, 89–90). The principal outcomes of this season’s work were:

• the total excavation and recording of the 16th/17th-century building;

• recovery of further evidence showing the quality, status and uniqueness of the building for the historical period in this area;

• the identification of central chimney and fireplace with contemporary graffiti on the chimney breast lintel and sides. This may include masons’ marks and apotropaic or witches marks;

• recovery of finds including 16th/17th-century window glass; pottery hinting at hitherto unknown local pottery production from this period; a wide range of animal bone, including whale bone, fish and sea bird; and a range of metalwork.

A 12 x 8m trench was machine excavated over the western half of the c17m long by 6m wide building, first investigated in 2010. This exposed the western half of a large (10.5 x 6m) E room (the eastern half of which was excavated in 2010), and the entire smaller (c4 x 6m) W room. The surviving walls were >2m high and constructed of roughly hewn beach boulders bonded with a hard white lime mortar. There is good evidence that the internal and external faces of the wall were harled with the same mortar.

A substantial stone-built buttress, subsequently modified to form a loading platform, and possibly carrying an external staircase, was recorded abutting the outside of the W gable end of the building. This indicates an upper storey was used for storage. The external structure was covered with quantities of industrial midden material, composed of burnt fuel and ash. The deposit was identical to that previously revealed in the coastal section continuing c30m W from the building and terminating at the site of the probable pan house. It provides further evidence that the two buildings were contemporary and that the waste from the pan hearths was used to create a substantial surface or trackway between the two buildings.

The large E room was laid with angular shale slabs bedded onto clean beach sand. There was evidence of a partition to form an internal porch or hallway area in front of the door, but the room was otherwise devoid of internal features. The dividing wall contained a chimney, the fireplace of which opened out into the smaller W room. An intriguing feature of the fireplace was a number of letters and marks carved into its sandstone lintel and sides. These may include masons’ marks and carved symbols to ward off evil spirits, commonly known as apotropaic marks. This is not an unreasonable theory given the date of construction of the building, which coincides with the height of fear of witchcraft under James VI, particularly prevalent on the E coast of Scotland.

The W room was also devoid of internal features, except for evidence of a partition to separate a small area directly in front of the door. A dark grey shale/clay was recorded on the floor, but there was no surviving evidence of a deliberate flooring material. A fine group of construction features and deposits including stakes for scaffolding platforms, postholes, construction trenches and deposits full of construction debris were recorded beneath the floors in both rooms.

Over 30 sherds of window glass were recovered from floor deposits in the E room, and a reused carved window sill was found in the W gable end wall. Chemical analysis of the glass shows it has a high lime low alkali composition which dates it to before 1700 (Robin Murdoch pers. comm.). It is possibly imported, or is the earliest surviving evidence of the use of Scottish glass in the Highlands. Four sherds of very rough pottery may provide evidence of local production and are currently undergoing further analysis. A very wide range of animal bone including sea bird, whale bone and fish bone was recovered from deposits relating to both the construction and the use of the building. As in previous years, the most numerous finds were iron objects. Our youngest volunteer, 8 year old Callum Machinnon found an iron hunting arrowhead within the industrial midden deposits on the possible loading platform outside the W gable end wall.

This final season of excavation of the Old Salt House site confirms our impression of a high status building, probably offices and a store, related to the earliest industrial salt making venture by the Sutherland Estate. The building continues to reveal many ‘firsts’ for our knowledge of construction methods, materials and the material culture of its builders and users in the NE Highlands of the late 16th and early 17th century.

Archive: RCAHMS (intended). Report: Highland HER and RCAHMS

Funder: Historic Scotland

The SCAPE Trust and Clyne Heritage Society, 2011

Field Visit (27 February 2015)

Nothing visible as previous excavation by Clyne Heritage Society has been backfilled.

ShoreUPDATE comment:

This record refers to the whole site of the 18th century or 'New' Salt Pans in Brora. The SCAPE Trust with Clyne Heritage Society and local volunteers carried out substantial excavations on the site in 2007, 2008 and 2009. (Refer to Brora Back beach Data Structure reports 2007, 2008, 2009 for full details and wesite http://www.shorewatch.co.uk/brora).

Developed by John Williams for the Sutherland Estate in 1767, the Salt Pans only operated for a decade, closing in 1777.

They are depicted on estate maps of 1772 (Kirk) and 1813 (Farey).

Excavations identified 3 buildings identified on the estate plans as well as an 'Intended Waggon Road'. Two of the buildings were comprehensively excavated. The ground plan of the buildings was almost identical. They measured 14.8m in length and 4.8m wide. A central wall divided the buildings into 2 large rooms. The dividing wall contained evidence of a central chimney with a fireplace opening into the east room and a more substantial hearth structure opening into the west room. The buildings were constructed with local sandstone, bonded with clay and harled with lime mortar. The hearths and chimneys were of brick. One of the buildings had a pantiled roof. In the other building, labelled the Salt Mans's House on Farey's 1813 map, there was no evidence of roofing material. Historic documentation mentions turf roofs, so it was posssibly turf. It is probable that these buildings were multi-functional - with a salt pan on one side and accommodation, storage and drying room on the other. Only a fragment of the back wall of a third building survived, the rest of having been lost to erosion. However, it is depicted in the same way and with the same dimensions on the 1772 estate plan, and so is likely to have been very similar to the two excavated.

Two further buildings depicted on the 1772 plan nearest to the coast edge are now completely destroyed. Their location is now within the intertidal zone.

A rich artefact assemblage from the buildings included numerous domestic items including high status imported pottery and gin bottles, drinking glasses, animal bone, fish bone, very numerous Fe objects (mostly nails and fittings and fixtures from the buildings), and a pair of scissors.

Coastline regression using historic mapping showed that between 30 and 50m of coastline has been lost in the vicinity of the 18th century. Most of the historical loss occurred between 1772 and 1813. The current rate of loss, however, appears to be the most rapid yet documented.

Although this site has been excavated, continued rapid erosion of the dune face here will almost certainly reveal additional evidence, and possbly uninvestgated buildings. The known buildings and intended Waggon Way are clearly visible in the dune face as layers of coal dust, stone walls, and brick and pantile debris.

Visited by Scotland's Coastal Heritage at Risk (SCHARP) 2015

Field Visit (27 February 2015)

SCHARP update 09-04-2015

This record refers to the remains of a substantial wall foundation, aligned E-W and over 20m in length. A few photos from the 1970s to 1990s record the wall when it was upstanding. At least one doorway was visible. Clyne Heritage Society and NoSAS recorded the remains of the wall foundation in a Shorewatch project in 2004, 2007 and 2010.

The wall is likely to be the remains of the 16th-17th century pan house, contemporary with the girnel and store located a few metres to the east, excavated in 2010 and 2011.

It is now completely destroyed.

See all of the Brora Back Beach Data Structure reports (2007-2012) for information.

Visited by Scotland's Coastal Heritage at Risk (SCHARP) 27 February 2015

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