EHG5338 - Salvage Recording and Watching Brief - Land South of No 1 Beaufort Farm Cottages, Kiltarlity

A programme of archaeological salvage recording and watching brief was undertaken by Highladn Archaeology Services in 2018 in order to mitigate the impact of the construction of a holiday cottage and final installation of a septic tank and associated services on land south of No 1 Beaufort Farm Cottages, Kiltarlity. Several prehistoric monuments are located in the near vicinity of the development site, which forms part of the Beaufort Estate holdings and lies just beyond boundary of the historic formal gardens associated with the castle. A preceding evaluation stage of the project (see EHG5337) determined the presence of archaeological structures and deposits within the proposed development footprint, including the base of a probable post-medieval kiln or corndryer. A salvage recording exercise was required as the reduced level dig and excavation of strip foundations for the holiday cottage was undertaken in error before a watching brief was in place. No archaeologically significant features, structures or artefacts were identified within the footprint of the holiday cottage during the salvage recording. The limited activity recorded was restricted to two modern service trenches cut by the strip foundations, one of which (now rerouted) formerly discharged into an extant septic tank located in the southwest of the site. The final watching brief exercise failed to identify any further buried features of archaeological significance. The previously recorded kiln or corndryer was again located and subsequently removed during the excavation of the septic tank installation pit. No further features were identified either within the installation pit or during the excavation of the associated service trenches. No archaeologically significant finds were recovered during the course of the works. The final salvage recording and watching brief exercises produced only very limited results, therefore no further archaeological analysis or reporting is recommended. <1>