Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports (SAIR)
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 2012. (updated 2023) https://doi.org/10.5284/1017938. How to cite using this DOI
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- ADS Collection: 310
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1017938
- How to cite using this DOI
Excavations at Jeffrey Street, Edinburgh: the development of closes and tenements north of the Royal Mile during the 16th-18th centuries.
Masser, Paul; Mike Kimber; Julie Franklin; Morag Cross and Auli Tourunen
Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports 58 (2014)
DOI: 10.9750/issn.1773-3808.2014.58
Abstract: Excavations on the site of a former tannery to the rear of Edinburgh's High Street produced evidence for the infilling of medieval burgage plots from the 16th century onwards. Walls defining a terrace and a burgage plot boundary suggest a considerable investment in at least some of the backlands during the medieval period, but these structures later went out of use, corresponding to a widely documented decline in Scottish towns during the 14th century. During the late 16th century, substantial buildings with cellars on either side of a paved close represent the first appearance of the multi-storey tenement buildings that characterise much of the Old Town. These buildings provide the basis for a discussion of the character of urbanisation in late 16th- and early 17th-century Edinburgh. The cellars were demolished and backfilled with refuse at different dates between the 1640s and 1740s. Finds from these refuse deposits are highly significant as a sample of changing consumption patterns during this period. During the 18th century the area appears to have declined in status and taken on a more industrial character; later, a tannery was established on part of the site by the 1830s, which expanded to cover much of the site by the 1880s.
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