Published: Thursday, 8th May, 2008 8:00am

Historic finds

Comments (0) | Print | Email

EXPERTS have confirmed that supporting pillars inside McArthur"s Stores are the most complete set of timbres from one merchant ship to be found anywhere in Scotland.

Council archaeologists suspected that the columns inside the building at Cromwell harbour had been salvaged from a 17th century merchant vessel. And that was confirmed by maritime historians last month.

Dr Robert Prescott, a former professor of maritime history and archaeology at St Andrew"s University who has visited the site said: 'The recycled ship timbres are very interesting because they are not all that common in Scotland.

'Many of the well known shipyards where these have been found have been from war ships. This is a very important site because it is much less common to find timbre from merchant ships.'

Meanwhile, in the course of the £1.15 million revamp due for completion in November, construction workers have unearthed a paved red brick floor dating from the mid to early 19th century.

Refurbishment project manager, George McNeill, said: 'The red brick floor and timbres will be retained as far as possible.'

An archaeological report is expected to be published by end of August.