Backland activities in medieval Perth: excavations at Meal Vennel and Scott Street

Abstract

Two excavations within the medieval burgh provided the opportunity to investigate an early industrial zone on the western side of Meal Vennel and a relatively rich undeveloped area in the backlands of Scott Street. The artefact rich Meal Vennel excavation revealed evidence of a possible early western boundary of the town, timber and stone buildings and industrial activities including grain drying and iron smithing. Backland activities including sand quarrying, the digging of rubbish pits and dumping of midden, were investigated at Scott Street. A number of questions relating to the medieval development of Perth were addressed. `Excavations at Meal Vennel' by Richard Sermon & Adrian Cox (736--51), including: `The pottery' by Peter Cheer (753--9); a gold and sapphire ring and the copper alloy objects including dress fasteners/fittings and keys, a mount and fittings, needles, padlock components, pendants, pins, rivets, seal matrix, sheets and strips, thimbles and tweezers; lead alloy objects; iron objects including arrowheads, buckles, horse equipment, household ironwork, and knives are detailed along with a `Metallurgy of the knives' by Paul Harrison (776--7), locks and keys, structural ironwork, and tools; stone objects; bone and antler objects including perforated bones and horn cores, horn-working evidence, pins, antler offcuts; the glass including a bead, linen smoother(?) and window glass; `Coins and a jetton' by Nicholas Holmes (789--90); `The flint' by Jill Harden (790 & 791); ceramic roof tiles; industrial residues; `The leather' by Clare Thomas (792); `The animal bone' by Catherine Smith (792--4); and `Botanical remains' by Alan Fairweather (795). `Excavations at Scott Street' by Jonathan Burrows (795--801) is followed by the specialist reports from that site including: `The pottery' by Peter Cheer (801--4); copper alloy objects; lead alloy objects; iron objects; stone objects; the wooden cask; `Textiles' by Thea Gabra-Sanders (810--11); ceramic floor tiles; glass; clay pipes; `Coins' by Nicholas Holmes (812); `Mammal and bird bone' by Catherine Smith (812--13); `Botanical remains' by Alan Fairweather (813--14).

Iron-working in medieval Perth: a case of town and country?

“…Given the ubiquitous association of iron seepages and encrustations with 'red' burns, it is unlikely that access to these resources would have been wholly restricted to rural communities (although access to woodland and hence charcoal might have been restricted, the towns relying more heavily on peat and coal) and although no bloomery furnaces have yet come to light in Perth, this in itself is not absolute evidence that they did not exist in the town. Admittedly, where excavation has recorded structures in association with industrial waste, those structures are thought to have related to smithing of iron, rather than its production (eg Meal Vennel: Cox 1996). However, the combined area of excavations to date in Perth is a small proportion of the total area of the medieval town.…”

“…If ore availability was not a pressing issue, such 'loss' may not have been a point of much concern for the Highland smith. was limited (eg Blanchard 1983;Holdsworth et al 1987;Stones 1989), with some further excavations reaching publication in the recent past Coleman 1996;Cox 1996;Moloney & Coleman 1997).…”

“…Of the published excavations, metallurgical waste has been recovered from South Methven Street, Kirk Close and Canal Street II (Holdsworth et al 1987); King Edward Street, Mill Street, Kinnoull Street and Blackfriars House ; and Meal Vennel (Cox 1996). This material has been recovered from a variety of contexts, representing both a diversity of features and processes and a wide range of chronological periods.…”

“…Among the sites excavated a number show clear evidence of metal-working activities with associated artefacts and industrial debris (both ferrous and non-ferrous). These include excavations in Inverness (Wordsworth 1982), Perth (eg Holdsworth 1987Bowler etal 1995;Cox 1996) and Edinburgh Castle (Driscoll & Yeoman 1997), to mention only a few. Forges and smithies are generally assumed to have been the locus of production of this industrial waste, despite the fact that some of this material seems on visual examination to have been derived from primary processes, like smelting.…”

“…This paper cites examples from several excavations both in the town and its hinterland, but focuses on three sites, in particular, which have produced evidence for hearths ascribed to industrial rather than domestic functions, as well as industrial debris. These are King Edward Street (Clark & Blanchard 1995), Canal Street II (Spearman 1987a) and Meal Vennel (Cox 1996) (illus 1). The aim is to elucidate the chemical/mineralogical composition of the iron-related metallurgical debris in order to assess whether primary processes were indeed practised within the boundaries of medieval Perth.…”