EHG5820 - Trial trenching - proposed supermarket, Tulloch St, Dingwall

A trial trenching evaluation was undertaken by Avon Archaeology (Highland) in 2022 in accordance with the requirements of planning consent in advance of development works for a new superstore and associated parking and services at a site to the rear of St Clement’s School, Tulloch Street, Dingwall. The evaluation involved the excavation of 12 archaeology trenches designed to establish the presence or absence of significant buried archaeology within the footprint of the development area. The evidence revealed in the trenches can be subdivided into two different groups: the seven trenches opened in the western and central part of the site, where modern ground levels are in the region of 1m lower than elsewhere in the development area, revealed extensive deposits of highly mixed modern made ground up to 1.75 m deep, which directly overlies the undisturbed natural substrate at a depth of between c 1.5 and 1.7 m OD. These deposits were overwhelmingly water saturated below a depth of c 1m and contained large quantities of domestic and commercial waste of mid-20th century date. The five trenches opened in the eastern, slightly elevated, part of the site, were all entirely dry and revealed a significantly shallower sequence of deposits overlying a different natural substrate. Trenches 4 and 5 revealed a series of negative soil features including a substantial ditch, a gully, and a posthole, all of which were undated. These were accompanied by two large pits and a linear feature, which were interpreted to be of later post-medieval or modern origin. Features of archaeological interest in Trenches 6 and 7 were restricted to a series of large rubble-filled French drains of later post-medieval or modern origin. Trench 12 revealed a later post-medieval or modern wall foundation that previously defined the boundary between the lower-lying and elevated parts of the development area. On the basis of the evidence recorded in the evaluation trenches it is concluded that the archaeological potential of the western and central portion of the site, the bulk of the proposed area of development evaluated by Trenches 1 - 3, and 8 -11, is Low to Negligible. The archaeological potential of the areas evaluated by Trenches 6, 7 and 12 is similarly Low. The archaeology identified in the area evaluated by Trenches 4 and 5 is considered to have some local significance and moderate research potential although the archaeology is not considered to be of sufficient importance to justify preservation in-situ at the expense of future development. Accordingly, it is therefore recommended that some further archaeological mitigation is justified in this area of the site in advance of development in order to fully reveal, record and understand the archaeological activity represented in advance of its destruction. <1>