EHG4745 - Watching brief - Sand Dune Walk, Balintore

A watching brief was maintained by C Dagg in 2011 during topsoil stripping and foundation trench excavation at a new house site at 4 Sand Dune Walk, Balintore. Removal of vegetation and the topsoil layer revealed that the site has been landfilled with a mixture of brown sandy soil and rubble, consisting of sections of brick wall, concrete slabs and other demolition material. It appeared that the material was brought from demolished buildings at the nearby Fearn Airbase at the end of the Second World War, and use to raise the ground level and provide a level area for the former caravan park on the site. The original land surface was only exposed in the east corner, where pure sand rose from a depth of 0.8m, this being the base of the trench, at 0.7m southwest and 0.9m northwest of the east corner, to 0.4m below the present ground level in the corner itself. No layering was obvious within the sand, and this was presumed to be the line of the original sand dune. No archaeological finds were recovered and no in-situ archaeological deposits were exposed. <1>