Archaeologists scoop second national award

Nov 20 2008 by George Topp, Lanark & Carluke

A GROUP of amateur archaeologists in Clydesdale have the world of Time Team sewn up.

For Biggar Archaeology Group have, for the second time, won the highest award in Britain for amateur archaeologists – The Pitt Rivers Award.

The bi-annual British Archaeology Awards ceremony took place in the British Museum last week. And the Biggar team scooped their award for the work they have done on the River Tweed Project.

The group have been working in Peeblesshire for about ten years now and have re-surveyed most of the ground between Peebles and Biggar, a huge area.

The results have been to magnify the number of archaeological sites by a considerable factor and, coupled with numerous excavations of sites ranging from 6000 years to 200 years ago, allows a new interpretation of past lives in the Tweed Hills.

Tam Ward, of the museum, said this week: “This award is a further feather in the group’s cap as they have already won the same award before and, in fact, came second two years ago. That time we lifted three awards at the ceremony and were the only group to bring a trophy north of the border.

“It’s been the same again as we are the only people to win an archaeology award for Scotland.

“The competition at these events is of a very high standard, so it is really great that the judges see our work as being important.”

The team are currently in the process of excavating a 400-year-old settlement site at Logan Burn, overlooking the Tweed.

A previously unknown tower or bastle house has been discovered there, along with some fascinating finds such as spurs, coins, pottery and glass, tobacco pipe bowls and even a very fine bronze sword guard, mostly dating to the 17th century.

However, quite co-incidentally, a small hoard of Edward I silver pennies was found.

These were almost certainly lost by an English soldier as he galloped past the site in 1310, when Edward II was camped at Biggar.

The site is being shown to have been a fermtoun, a number of stone and turf buildings clustered around a main strong house.

The work is suspended because the group have to travel further back in time somewhere else as a matter of urgency.

Tam Ward explained: “We found a Stone Age site in the spring of the year at Carwood Farm, near Biggar, and limited work produced some spectacular pottery and stone tool finds. We need to learn more in case there is a house site there. Such places are extremely rare.

“We will have the winter months to come up with some answers before the field is ploughed again. Of course each time that happens, a little more of this 5000-6000-year-old site vanishes. After that, we will be back to complete the work at Logan.”

And then? “We have many more exciting projects,” added Mr Ward.

TIME TEAM: some of the Biggar archaeologists show off some of their recent trophies. Pictured, left to right , are Fiona Christison, Richard Gillanders, Alison Whyte, Joyce Durham and Jim Ness.