Excavations at the former Pullars works, Perth

SUAT's excavations on the site of the former Pullars dyeing and cleaning works in Perth took place in 1999, in advance of construction of new offices for Perth and Kinross Council, and were funded by Morrison Construction, who have developed the site as a PFI project.

Excavation in progress on the Pullars site The excavations were divided into two parts; a long deep trench inside the Pullars buildings, parallel to Mill Street, and a large open area in a former car park to the north of the buildings, on the west side of Curfew Row.  A standing wall which formed the southern boundary of the car park and cut off access along Curfew Row was recorded before demolition.

The Mill Street trench exposed the rear face of the mill lade culvert wall, deep rubble dumps associated with the construction of Pullars works, and cobble surfaces and stone foundations predating Pullars buildings.  Beneath all these were irregular pits and gullies, and natural sands and clays descending into a deep depression, probably the northern edge of the medieval defensive ditch, some 2 or 3 m below present ground surface, and subject to a steady influx of water percolating through the ground from the adjacent mill lade.  It seems that the town's defensive ditch may have been formed by improving and restricting a natural waterlogged depression on the northern edge of the early medieval town.

The Curfew Row open area revealed the massive stone foundations of one of the Pullars buildings demolished more than 20 years ago, and the even more massive foundations of an early gasometer demolished and infilled in the mid 19th century when the Pullars building was constructed.  Despite the disturbance caused by these Victorian industrial features, extensive areas of earlier remains survived in between them.  These resolved themselves into a remarkable collection of pits, hearths or ovens, and vats or tanks of stone, wood and clay, evidently the remains of the medieval industrial suburb.  Processes involving fire risk or noxious fumes and waste naturally concentrated outwith the town walls.

Medieval vats

A medieval oven

At least some of the features probably relate to the malting industry, but they cluster in a way which suggests that several properties are involved, probably belonging to different enterprises and carrying out different processes.  Although no pottery kilns were found, one fragment of kiln furniture was recovered and might indicate kilns nearby.  There are also ditches and perhaps even wheel ruts marking the line of the medieval Curfew Row, the street around which the suburb grew up.

A rectangular, stone-lined tank

A very large assemblage of pottery, artefacts and animal bone was recovered, especially from the medieval pits and tanks.  Some of this material dates from the 13th and 14th centuries, around the time when the suburb was developing.