What is it about?
Excavations on the site of the tower-house at Cathcart, demolished in 1980, produced evidence for the construction of the tower and an associated enclosure or barmkin, dated to the mid 15th century. No earlier structural remains were found, but residual pottery suggests that the site was occupied prior to the construction of the tower. The interior of the tower was remodeled in circa 1630-40 in brickwork, an early dated example of the use of this material in Scotland, and decorated with elaborate plasterwork. The barmkin was dismantled and a new range of buildings added, also in the 17th century. The tower was partially-demolished in the mid 18th century, and was conserved as a ruin in the 19th century. A long period of neglect in the 20th century led to its partial collapse in 1979 and demolition in 1980.
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Why is it important?
The residual material suggests that this site was occupied before the mid 15th century, probably as a forerunner to the tower as the centre of the Cathcart family's holdings in Renfrewshire. The excavations confirmed the suggested plan of the tower's barmkin enclosure, but produced new evidence for a massive rock-cut ditch cutting off the promontory in front of the tower, and for another enclosure, possibly a garden, to its west. The remodelling of the tower in 1630-40 in brick and elaborate plasterwork is also significant. Of greatest significance is finds a large clearance assemblage of local and imported ceramics, glass vessels and ironwork, deposited as backfill of a cellar together with window glass, masonry, bricks and plasterwork stripped from the tower interior in the mid 18th century. This provides important insight into the material culture available to a relatively well-off household in the first half of the 18th century.
Perspectives
This was my first excavation as director, when I was a recent and very green graduate. I remain grateful to the young unemployed Glaswegians who took part in the work for scant pay, and to the colleagues who kept an eye on my work and who took part at critical periods of the fieldwork. The project (funded by the Manpower Services Commission) enabled the excavation to take place, but did not provide funding for analysis and publication, which did not happen until many years afterwards with the help of funding from the organisation now known as Historic Environment Scotland. While the tower had been thoroughly demolished by the time the excavation took place, the recorded evidence for the structure was excellent, thanks in particular to photogrammetric survey that fortunately took place before the partial collapse of the tower. This allowed us to integrate the architectural and archaeological evidence to a greater degree than seemed possible at the outset. It was also fortunate that Eileen Malden had begun research into the Cathcart family, which formed the basis of her history of the site. More could probably be made now of the finds assemblages, particularly in light of more recent work on clearance assemblages in England. This is a site that might benefit from a more biographical approach to further analysis. Some of the finds could not be traced in Glasgow Museums stores at the time the analyses were underway, and it would be useful to reunite them with the project archive. It would also be useful to carry out further research on the parallels for the 17th-century plasterwork, and perhaps event to reconstruct the appearance of the tower interior.
Mr Brian Kerr
Historic England
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Cathcart Castle, Glasgow – Excavations 1980–81, Scottish Archaeological Journal, October 2016, Edinburgh University Press,
DOI: 10.3366/saj.2016.0073.
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