Chair of the Friends of Crookston Castle, David McDondald and Historic Environment Scotland’s Dr Hazel Blake look forward to the community geophysical survey days that are starting on Friday that the Trust is funding.
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As Glasgow celebrates its 850th anniversary, the Friends of Crookston Castle are proud to be contributing to the city’s story with a major new heritage project.
Re-established in 2024, our volunteer-led group exists to care for and celebrate Glasgow’s only surviving medieval castle, Crookston.
Once surrounded by ancient woodland the Castle is now encircled by twentieth-century housing. It has stood as a landmark in the life of generations of local people, but many of them do not realise just how deep its history runs.
That’s why we’re excited to be launching Echoes from the Earth – Crookston Castle’s Hidden Stories, supported by the Castle Studies Trust.
At the centre of the project is a three-day geophysical survey, the most comprehensive investigation of the site in decades. The survey will use three techniques; gradiometry, earth resistance, and ground-penetrating radar to build a picture of what lies beneath the castle grounds and the surrounding area.
With the help of Historic Environment Scotland, local volunteers will be trained to use the archaeological equipment providing our partner schools with a unique learning experience, while boosting the skills of early career archaeologists and local students. Crookston Castle is an unusual stone castle built around 1400 within earlier earthworks constructed in the 1100s. It is the only surviving medieval castle in the City of Glasgow and is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland (HES; Crookston Castle | Public Body for Scotland’s Historic Environment).
The site is a well-known local landmark and has an active ‘Friends of Crookston Castle’ group from the local community who value the monument as an important part of their historic environment. Working in partnership with the ‘Friends’, the archaeological survey team at HES will be undertaking geophysical survey at Crookston Castle. This has two main objectives – firstly to understand more about what may lie below the ground surface, and secondly to provide experience of geophysical survey to the Friends of Crookston and support them in finding out more about their monument.
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At any stone-built castle, it is inevitable that impressive standing masonry is a focus of attention. But these were monuments that underwent changes and development, perhaps because of war damage or as needs changed, and may be one aspect of a much longer span of activity on the site. So, there may be more to them than immediately meets the eye. The planned gradiometer, earth resistance and ground penetrating radar surveys (see here for more information on these techniques) will provide views of what archaeological remains lie below the ground surface. We hope this will provide more information about the history of the castle, enriching the stories that the remains can tell us and informing future management of the site.
Crookston Castle matters to the local community, and that is one reason why it is important to HES to be working with the ‘Friends’ to better understand their monument. By providing experience of geophysical survey and the interpretation of the results, we have an opportunity to share experience and knowledge and together contribute to a better understanding of the site now and in the future.
Geophysics is exciting because you never know what may pop up in the survey data, lurking unsuspected under the ground surface! But there are already two potential areas of interest that we know should benefit from survey. One area to the south of the stone castle may contain medieval activity, while to the west there is what may have been the original western entrance. Both areas will be an initial target for the geophysical survey, with flexibility to target further areas across the site.
Crookston Castle is valued by its local community. It is a great opportunity for HES, as the national publicly funded body for the historic environment, to be able to engage directly with the Friends and support them in their interest in the monument.
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If you would like to get involved with the group, get in touch at Crookstoncastlefriends@gmail.com and follow them on Facebook.
So, if Crookston is close to you and you’d like to get involved in the project, get in touch or follow our progress on our social media and help us unearth the history and stories of a site that even after all these years still has secrets to share and that continues to surprise us, inspire us, and to remind us that the past is never quite as far away as it seems.