Watching brief
A watching brief was carried out during ground-works for a new classroom block at St Mary’s School, Melrose. The school, the earliest part of which is Category B Listed, lies within the scheduled area associated with Melrose Abbey.
The development area was crossed by numerous modern service trenches including gas, electricity, sewerage and water. Two modern machine-cut pits containing industrial ash and cinders and numerous modern items including pottery, metal and plastic were identified both within the topsoil and within the cuts for the service trenches. A sixpence dating to 1944 and depicting George VI was recovered, but all the other items were considered to be of no archaeological significance.
