EHG5781 - Watching brief - former Aluminium Lochaber Recreation Club site, Inverlochy

A watching brief was undertaken by AOC Archgaeology Group in 2020 in respect to a proposed development on a land parcel northeast of Inverlochy. The site lies within Old Inverlochy Farm and to the immediate east of Inverlochy Castle, Fort William. It is also within the bounds of the demarcated areas for the Battles of Inverlochy. The work involved the monitoring of ground-breaking works associated with the development that occurred both outwith and within the existing building footprint. The watching brief recorded the presence of a fragmentary palisade ditch and associated post-holes of probable late prehistoric date. Though heavily truncated by modern groundworks the ditch provided several examples of prehistoric ceramics alongside samples of burnt bone and charcoal. It was apparent that the majority of the area had little in the way of surviving in-situ deposits. <1> A metal detector survey was also carried out - see EHG5780. A programme of post-excavation work and final reporting was undertaken by Highland Archaeology Services in 2022. The fragmentary linear cut feature and associated post-holes, though heavily truncated by modern groundworks, provided a single sherd of medieval pottery as well as several examples of fragmentary earlier ceramics alongside samples of burnt bone and charcoal. This feature was AMS dated (at the Bristol University Radiocarbon AMS facility) to around 1300AD, suggesting that it corresponds to the construction of, or early military action around, the nearby Inverlochy castle. <2>