Sarclet search for a long forgotten stronghold called Thurster Tower – come and see the evidence at Open Day events

An archaeological dig is underway at Sarclet to find the remains of a 15th century tower and an open day for visitors to survey the site is planned for Friday and Saturday.

Evidence for a tower, perhaps similar to the keep of the Castle of Old Wick, has been found in contemporary documents and most intriguingly in maps from the period.

Andy Heald, managing director of AOC Archaeology, was leading a team of archaeologists and volunteers on the first day of the dig last Saturday and said: "Yarrows Heritage Trust are incredibly active about trying to find out about their heritage and encouraging the next generation to take part in training digs. They spoke to the local landowner [Peter Stewart] and he was intrigued to find out what is potentially on his land. There are anecdotal references to a tower somewhere on the land around here at a place that is called Thurster or Long Greens."

The area of the field where the team is working was often referred to as "Castle Park" or "Castle Field" by the Stewart family – another piece of key evidence that they were digging in the right patch. A team of around a dozen people first removed turf from a small rectangular area of the field where there appeared to be the defined shape of a building.

"Towers can be tall but their footprint can be quite small in archaeological terms," said Andy. "There are big stones here that suggest a building or buildings from different dates. Other people have surveyed the site and it does suggest there was a rectangular building here. We first thing we do is to try and characterise the architecture. Then we try and date it from burnt things or other artifacts."

Andy was under no illusion that the "structure" being scrutinised by the team could date from more recent times, perhaps just being the remains of a 19th century farmstead or mostly made up from stones accumulated from agricultural land clearance. Once the turf was removed there were signs that stones had been set in lines possibly delineating walls of the alleged tower.

Together with his colleague Stuart Munro, a field archaeologist with AOC, he guided the team consisting of novices, students and more experienced individuals, throughout the initial day and said he was looking forward to visits from schoolchildren and members of the public for Friday and Saturday's special Open Day events.

Stuart from AOC said: "We have historical documents from a will that mentions Thurster Tower in an area called Long Greens. The local landowner referred to this area as Castle Field. A lot of what we are doing is to teach people about archaeology. Whether we find Thurster Tower or not is not really the point – if what we come out with is a farmstead or farm structure and have been able to teach people about archaeology that is part of the value."

The team has been working at the site all week and the sunny conditions have helped bring out a steady stream of volunteers that Yarrows Heritage Trust (YHT) has helped coordinate. On its website, the Trust mentions some historical facts: "By 1541, we know that Thurster Tower was held by Elizabeth Innes. We have no picture or description of it, but it is likely to have been a tower-house, similar to Ackergill.

"In the next fifty years there were many battles and skirmishes around, and for the possession of, the Tower. There is no mention of it in historical sources after 1604. It was probably pulled down soon afterwards, with its stones going to make nearby buildings and dykes."

YHT and AOC Archaeology welcome visitors to visit the site which has signs guiding the public from Thrumster and along the route towards Sarclet. Come along on Friday, April 21 from 2pm - 4pm and Saturday 22nd 10am - 12pm.

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