EHG3517 - Watching brief, land south of Salen Village Hall

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken on preparation work on the site of two new houses. The remains of a prehistoric burial cairn were reported to lie in the vicinity of the application area. The site was found to have served as the King George V children’s playing field from 1936 to the early 1940s when it was taken over as a Royal Navy wartime camp of nissen huts.The alleged cairn was located within the development area and found not to be an archaeological feature, but an overgrown random pile of modern building material including rubble, brick and concrete which local memory confirms as being left over from the dismantling of the naval nissen huts in the early 1950s. The cairn was dismantled under archaeological supervision. No other traces of occupation or artefacts were found. <1>