West Pans: excavations at a ceramic production site in Musselburgh, East Lothian

Lewis, John; Cobo del Arco, Belen; Eremin, Katherine; Forbes, Shiela; Gallagher, Denis; Haggarty, George; Miller, Suzanne

West Pans: excavations at a ceramic production site in Musselburgh, East Lothian

Resource type

Journal article

Creator (person)

Lewis, John

Cobo del Arco, Belen

Eremin, Katherine

Forbes, Shiela

Gallagher, Denis

Haggarty, George

Miller, Suzanne

Date published

2010

Abstract

Excavations were undertaken in 1981 and 1990–1 at the site of the 18th-/19th-century ceramics manufacturing complex of West Pans, near Musselburgh. The foundations of several structures were uncovered although many proved impossible to interpret or date. Several puddling pits, most of them quite small, were identified, as was part of a hovel (the circular structure surrounding a kiln) and the remains of two kilns, one of which might have been for glass-making. Other buildings could have been drying rooms or stores. The large quantities of ceramics from several phases of occupation between the early 18th and the early 19th century included porcelain wasters from the period when William Littler was at West Pans, c 1764 and 1777. Some evidence of the 19th-century village of West Pans was uncovered to the north of the area, on land reclaimed from the sea. To the east of the main site, a watching brief in 2002 and a salvage excavation in 2003 revealed part of a brick structure possibly associated with salt-making, another important early industry at West Pans.

Contributor (person)

Murdoch, K Robin

Tate, Jim

Chenery, Simon