Work will start on Saturday (21 May – 1 June) on what we hope will be the concluding investigation of the Early Church site at Clachan, establishing the age and significance of the two mysterious built structures in the low-lying rushy part of the glebe (prehistoric, Early Church or associated with the building of the cathedral?). As in previous years, Clare Ellis will be supervising the work but, because we have restricted room in the trench, most of the digging will be done by a small team of experienced volunteers. Islanders will be welcome to visit but we are not planning an open day this time.
Work in this trench was stopped in September when it was flooded by heavy rain. It has since been covered by a protective membrane, which will now be lifted to give access to the work area. There is still a problem with the water table in the area but a ditch at the east end has drained some of the standing water and the rest will be removed by pumping. No doubt this will be a continuous job during the ten days of the dig. Whatever, we know that the diggers are going to get very muddy.
Big Dig surplus tyres May 2022
CELM is very grateful to Archie MacColl who helped to lift the very heavy tractor tyres from the trench and took away 11, and to Mark Willis who cut the rubber from 11 complete wheels and arranged for the metal to be recycled. We still have 33 tyres (rubber only) stacked at the field gate, awaiting transport for recycling. Any help to do this would be appreciated.
Thanks also to the Session of Lismore Kirk who have again generously let us use the manse for kitchen and toilet facilities.
We will post regular updates to keep you informed of developments.
Day 1 – 21 May 2022
The big question facing the team has been whether we could deal with the flooding of the trench, which caused us to stop work in 2021. It now looks as if we will be able to overcome this problem: using a submersible pump generously supplied by Duncan Drysdale, Douglas Breingan yesterday succeeded in clearing nearly all the water from the trench.
There are several springs feeding the trench, and continuous seepage from the surrounding peat, but periods of pumping during each day should allow archaeology to go ahead.
Clare Ellis arrived today, with her trusty assistants Andy and Maryanne Buntin, and another veteran of previous years, Gordon Higgs from Girvan, joined the work party. The main task today was to remove the protective membrane to prepare the site for work tomorrow. This involved some bucket work to rescue tadpoles that had developed in the flooded trench – and one spectacular dragonfly larva.
The good news is that most of the underlying excavated surface is in good condition, although the middle of the trench is a bit muddy!
And tomorrow we start digging!