Kirklands House, Historic Building Record and Watching Brief

A Historic Building Record of the main range was undertaken. This constituted a photographic and analytic survey of the space during and after soft-stripping. All ground reduction and ground-breaking works were monitored. The works involved the conversion of a house of 1868/1890 construction as well as the demolition of a series of 20th century extensions to clear the site and form a number of new buildings. Kirklands House is a small Category B Listed mansion within its original designed landscape, west of Edinburgh. The Scottish Baronial house, built in 1868, replaced an earlier mansion which appears on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1852. It was extended in the later 19th century. The Trefoil Charity acquired the estate in 1948 and further buildings were erected in subsequent phases of expansion, nearly doubling its footprint. The archaeological works undertaken on and around the House were a Historic Building Record of the house and associated buildings, with a written account, photography, and plans and elevations annotated with details. One feature of note was a basement dating to the 1950s. Monitoring of demolitions of the 20th century extensions and excavations of foundation and service trenches for new builds was undertaken. The excavations did not reveal earlier archaeology as the area has been heavily disturbed during the 20th century extension.