Dig reveals new clues about the history of Holyrood
THE building stands proud at the foot of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, thousands of tourists content to gaze upon the regal splendour and ask guards whether or not the Queen is home.
But for some historians, that was never quite enough, and so they decided to dig a little deeper – literally – and have been rewarded by unearthing artefacts dating back more than 800 years at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Items discovered during excavation work in the capital this year include a 12th-century jug fragment, a horse skeleton and a medieval shoe. Their secrets have helped revealed the diets of ambassadors and courtiers at Abbey Strand – during the reigns of Mary, Queen of Scots and James VI – by the mass of oyster shells and wine bottles dug up.
Researchers also said wine and spirit containers, food debris and fragments of children’s games gave a glimpse of life for the 25 impoverished families living in cramped tenements in the area during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Gordon Ewart of Kirkdale Archaeology, which carried out the work, said the discoveries had shed new light on the area. “The survey has provided a unique opportunity to understand more about the fascinating development of the Abbey Strand and its surroundings - and to explore how the site has been the historic and symbolic bridge between the palace and the city of Edinburgh for centuries,” he said.
More than 40 trenches were dug for an archaeological survey as part of the £10 million works to improve the visitor experience at the palace to help cope with its growing popularity.
Excavations in the Abbey Strand buildings by the Edinburgh-based firm uncovered the earliest evidence of settlement on the site.
Timber posts dating from the 12th century are believed to mark the location of a terrace that led to the then low-lying island on which Holyrood Abbey was built in 1128.
They could also have formed part of a structure used by the workmen who built the Abbey.
One of the earliest finds from the works is a medieval leather shoe from beneath one of the cellars in the Abbey Strand.
The bones of Highland cattle found in the gardens provide evidence of trading between Edinburgh and the Highlands and Western Isles.
The palace is used by the Queen when carrying out official engagements in Scotland.