EHG5703 - Trial trenching - Underground Cabling, Corran Narrows

An archaeological trial trench evaluation was undertaken by Clyde Archaeology in 2021 on behalf of Cnoclee Environmental Services as part of a series of mitigation measures to minimise any impact a new subsea cable, being installed by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks across across the Corran Narrows, could have on the historic environment. The works concentrated on an area of underground cable route west of Ardgour that had been identified as having high potential to contain buried archaeological remains due to its close proximity to a large cairn. A total of five trial trenches were excavated at the western end of the southern cable where it ran closest to the cairn while two test pits were excavated slightly further to the west to assess whether peat deposits had the potential to hold significant palaeoenvironmental remains. No archaeological remains were uncovered in the trial trenches while a linear pile of stone forming a rough boundary was found to sit on top of the peat and was not considered archaeologically important. Two test pits excavated into the peat close to the cairn found that it lay to 0.8m in depth. Further detailed palaeoenvironmental analysis was not recommended as the peat was shallower than expected and it showed no obvious changes in composition suggesting it could be very decomposed. <1>