EHG97 - Excavation - Urquhart Castle

During the construction of the visitor centre at Urquhart Castle, the remains of a timber structure were uncovered. Excavation in May 2000 revealed a timber building measuring 20 m by 7 m. The aim of the excavation was to characterise the date, nature and function of the structure. A secondary aim was to recover as much as possible of the history of the structure. The structure had been exposed by machining during the watching brief, while some cleaning had taken place during the watching brief. However, with very poor weather conditions, this was abandoned. Consequently, the area of the structure was cleaned by hoe initially, followed by cleaning using trowels. A pre-excavation plan was then produced with all features subsequently excavated through sections. <1>