A First Visit

It was a beautiful day yesterday for a first visit to historic Mingary Castle where the huge task of conserving and restoring the castle has just begun.  Months of detailed study has already been done, mainly in surveying the castle and researching its history.  The latter is particularly important because, although the building is going to be conserved so that its main structure will be available for future generations to enjoy and study, the castle will not be left as an empty building: it will live again, and the alterations that will be done to enable it to earn its living must be extremely sensitive.

Approaching the castle's main entrance from the farm steading and Estate office at Mingary, the signs of work in progress are already there.  First to start are the archaeologists, and they are opening a few initial trenches to get an idea of the task in front of them.  They'll be here for about a week, will write a report, and then, all being well, will return for the enormous task of clearing and making an even more detailed record of the interior before the builders move in.

Leading the team of archaeologists is Tom Addyman, partner in Addyman Archaeology of Edinburgh.  He's seen here in front of the main building within the courtyard looking at one of the many riddles the structure holds.  The door to the left is relatively new, perhaps 17th century while, just to the left of Tom's head, there's evidence in the stonework of a much older arch.

One of the first trenches the archaeologists sank revealed these oak steps, part of the 17th century staircase in the main building.  There are tons of rubble in the courtyard which, when it is removed, will reveal further treasures.

An this is part of Tom's record of the staircase, an example of the sort of painstaking record-keeping that's going on.

A wealth of material is going to come from this study, and we very much hope to bring it to you as the work progresses.