Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Archaeological dig at Aden Country Park unearths ‘exciting’ discovery

Pupils from New Pitsligo Primary helped with an archaeological dig near the Mansion House at Aden Country Park. (from left) volunteer Heather Jennings, New Pitsligo Primary pupils Ethan Alexander, 11 and Ayden Mitchell, 11. Picture by Colin Rennie.
Pupils from New Pitsligo Primary helped with an archaeological dig near the Mansion House at Aden Country Park. (from left) volunteer Heather Jennings, New Pitsligo Primary pupils Ethan Alexander, 11 and Ayden Mitchell, 11. Picture by Colin Rennie.

An archaeological dig at Aden Country Park has revealed the historic house was built on top of another building – with some puzzling drains also uncovered.

The excavations at the Mintlaw park have focused on the ruins of Aden House, which only has the walls remaining.

The team has now revealed that they have discovered the 18th century property was built on top of another building.

Aberdeen-based archaeologist Ali Cameron is leading the dig after being appointed by Aberdeenshire Council.

Geophysical studies, by Rose Geophysics, carried out at what would have been the gardens, show there were possibly walls or paths underneath.

Ms Cameron, whose team has been assisted by volunteers from the local primary schools including New Pitsligo, said: “We’ve found what would have been a fountain but it’s filled in with all of the concrete bits – this was early 1880s or 90s and is when concrete started to be used for everything.

“At some point they had broken up the fountain and dumped all of the broken pieces  and covered it up with soil and grass.

“Our earliest photographs of Aden House only has grass here so that’s exciting.

“One of the other things we found is an enormous drain which is a metre high. They are often about 30cm so to have it so deep is unusual.

“So far we’re not sure how far it goes or where to so that’s a question we can answer with another dig – a good dig gives answers but a really good dig leaves us with questions.

“Another question is the walls we’ve found under the walls which still stand today.

“We’ve not been able to find out much about that, but we’re now planning to dig inside the mansion next year, lifting the grass and soil that was dumped in there so we can find out more about what actually lies underneath.”

The dig is one of two taking place at Aden this year.

In another area of the park, archaeologists are planning a June dig to uncover more information about the Neolithic period in Mintlaw.

Funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic Environment Scotland will support the digs over the next five years.

Those interested in the digs have the opportunity to get involved on Saturday, from 10am-4pm. For more details, e-mail justinetough96@gmail.com