Looking back with Ian Scott on a great discovery in Falkirk's Williamson Street

Back in 2018 the former Mathieson’s Bakery building in Williamson Street was demolished to make way for a new development by Link Housing which after lengthy COVID delays was completed. Because the site was near the line of the Antonine Wall experts from GUARD Archaeology Ltd were appointed to keep an eye on the work in case something popped up. Well in the spring of 2019 something certainly did but not what might have been expected!

Around 2000 years before the Romans set foot in the town, men (and woman) of the Early Bronze Age were busy burying the cremated remains of two adults in what the experts call a ‘tripartite collared urn’ which was then deposited in a ‘ring ditch’ just over half a metre down and covered over with ‘loose dark brown sandy silt’. There it had remained untouched and undamaged for nearly 4000 years! With their usual care the archaeologists cleared away the surrounding soil and were eventually able to lift the urn safely from the trench. At this stage CFA Archaeology Ltd were commissioned to undertake post excavation analysis of the recovered material.

The earthen ware urn which is beautifully decorated with patterns of incised lines, crosses and circles is 37cm high and was buried upside down. It may at one time have had a leather top to ensure the contents were kept within the urn. Later examination showed that there were the remains of two adults, a man and a woman, whose bodies would have been burned on a pyre. A selection of bones would then have been gathered up and placed in the urn along with some decorative beads and bone pins which no doubt had meaning for the couple in life. It’s mind boggling to think that the urn and its contents have survived all the multitude of activities – agricultural, industrial etc – through tens of centuries, safe and sound and unharmed. Are our Adam and Eve the earliest inhabitants of Falkirk that we know of? I think they must be. There have been collared urns like this found in different parts of Scotland but this is a first for our town and district.

Christina Hills of CFA and her colleagues have been kind enough to allow their report to be included in Calatria 38 where you can read all about the discovery and what it was able to tell us about our ancestors.

The Journal has, of course, a number of other articles ranging across place, time and theme. For example an account of Droving and Drovers written by a Gaelic scholar from the perspective of the drovers themselves as they made their way down to the Falkirk Trysts. There are other pieces about the Grangemouth Dyes and the BP in anniversary years, an account of the early history of Falkirk Police stations, a look at the famous Grangemouth Militia and the story of two Falkirk Pubs, the Carronade Arms in Bainsford and the long lost Blue Bell Inn next to the canal in Camelon Main Street.

Calatria is available from the history society and should soon be available from Waterstones in the High Street. If you have any problems getting a copy drop me an email on [email protected].