Midden treasure... the royal rubbish tip

MORE than 2,000 historic artefacts have been found in a ‘royal rubbish heap’ beneath the walls of Stirling Castle.

Among the finds were pottery dating back to when the castle was home to the Stewart kings and the young Mary, Queen of Scots.

Other finds included musket balls, clay pipes, a First World War Austrian army belt buckle and modern glass and ceramics.

The objects were dumped over the walls as rubbish over hundreds of years since the castle was built in the 12th century.

It accumulated in a giant midden that is now itself recognised as a scheduled ancient monument. Part of the historic heap – which spans more than 40 yards – was excavated during a project to upgrade pathways beneath the castle.

Dr Murray Cook, Stirling Council archaeologist, who supervised the recovery of items, said the finds shed new light on the lives of those who occupied the fortress from the medieval period to modern times.

He said: ‘This midden is as old as Stirling Castle itself. It spans the history of the castle from the 12th century to its use as a military base and in to the 20th century. Stirling was the capital of Scotland and the castle was at its centre, so this is the royal rubbish dump.

‘Some of the most interesting finds were early medieval pottery, but all the rubbish from the royal household would have been dumped here by servants.

‘Mary, Queen of Scots’ rubbish is in there, along with that of James IV, James V and James VI.

‘Everything that you would put in your grey bin, your brown bin or down your toilet today just went over the wall and down the slope. It’s huge – we’ve really only scratched the surface.’

Stirling Castle is one of the largest and most important historic castles and palaces in Scotland. Surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, the imposing fortress was the seat of the Stewart dynasty and the crowning place of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1543.

At least eight sieges took place there from the medieval Wars of Scottish Independence to 1746, when Bonnie Prince Charlie unsuccessfully tried to take the castle.

From the 19th century, it was used as army barracks and later a regimental depot until 1964.

Pottery recovered ranged from medieval times and post-medieval material to industrially produced white earthenwares from the late 19th and 20th centuries.