ARDROSSAN Castle Heritage Society recently commissioned an archaeological survey in and around the church on the Castle Hill.

Last weekend, under the supervision of Joss Durnan of Rathmell Archaeology of Kilwinning, volunteers made targeted digs and found some interesting artefacts and information.

A stimulus to undertaking this project was the desire to know more about the church in which a stone coffin or sarcophagus was unearthed in 1911 by Robert Cook, an Ardrossan Town Council workman.

The Society wanted to know more about the ruin and its surrounding graveyard.

The main findings were two courses of hidden church stonework, fragments of skull one of which had two teeth, two large stone slabs inside the church, medieval pottery, a buried gravestone, the stone boundary that surrounded the graveyard and the teeth of cattle. The cattle were likely to be of the Chillingham herd or Ardrossan White Cattle that lived on the Hill in the late 1700s and early 1800s. In addition, the gravestones in the graveyard were cleaned.

Among the volunteers were two pupils from Ardrossan Academy, Niamh Templeton and Linzi Smith who discovered a stone slab in the church. They worked very hard and enjoyed their archaeological experience.

The Heritage Society was delighted when a special visitor came along. George Phillips is the great-grandson on Robert Cook, the man who discovered the sarcophagus in 1911. He takes an interest in the work of the Society and wanted to see the dig for himself. George stood at the very spot at which his great grandfather found the sarcophagus 106 years ago.

Ardrossan Castle Heritage Society is very grateful to Rathmell Archaeology, the volunteers and the members of the public who came to the dig as observers. The exercise will be resumed on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 May from 9am to 4pm. Again, visitors are most welcome.