2025 ANNUAL REPORT
EDINBURGH ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SOCIETY 2025-26
Honorary President: Mr John Lawson Archaeology Service City of Edinburgh Council Honorary Members: Dr David Caldwell Mrs Valerie Dean Professor Denis Harding Mr Ian Hawkins Mr Nicholas Holmes Mr John Lawson Mr Fergie Meek Honorary Chairman: Christine McPherson Honorary Vice-Chairman: Doris Koeck (until end May 2025) Honorary Treasurer: Norma Johnstone Honorary Secretary: Deborah Russell Minutes Secretary: Jayden Sandys Committee Members: Alan Calder Michael Harris Joyce Herriot Maggie Wilson Anthony Williams Ex Officio: Valerie Dean Research Sub-Committee: Ann Kerrigan, Denis Smith Representative on Cramond Heritage Trust: Ann Kerrigan EAFS News Editor: Alan Calder Annual Report Editor: Deborah Russell
Independent Examiner: Gail Boardman
MEETINGS OF THE SOCIETY DURING 2025-26
2025
9 April - Dr Murray Cook: Stirling’s Burgh Walls
14 May - Dr Guillaume Robin: Decorated Rock Cut Tombs in Sardinia
9 October - Dr Antony Lee: Treasure Trove and the Roman Iron Age: Recording finds, exploring identities
12 November - Kirsty Dingwall: The Clyde Wind Farm Project
10 December - Cammo update: Christine McPherson; Tormain project: Ben Bright, followed by Social Evening
2026
4 January - Marilyn Brown: Gardens after the 1660 restoration of Charles II
11 February - Dr Nick Gannon: Roman Inveresk Revealed
11 March - AGM & Social Evening
e-mail: enquiries@eafs.org.uk
Website: www.eafs.org.uk Facebook: Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society Bluesky: eafs.bskysocial CammoArch#25
Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society is a registered Scottish Charity No SC006520
Notes from the Chair 2025-6
We have had a good consolidating year since our last AGM. Our member numbers have held up fairly well. Some confusion over standing orders, after we put up our subscription rates, has meant that the income stream isn’t as healthy as it should be. Perhaps we could all check our bank statements to see if we have forgotten to update.
Our lectures have been well attended despite the bad weather. It has been suggested that we should schedule them for the summer but that would interfere with people’s holidays and might not be compatible with the University, who are so helpful with our free use of a lecture theatre.
It has often been suggested that we should record our lectures to enable those members who are unable to attend to enjoy them. It might also mean we could use the lectures as a way to engender more income by charging non-members to access them. Currently a small group of the committee have met with Graham Rule of Augustine United Church to get his expert advice as to the necessary equipment we would need. Now we need to source funds to acquire said equipment and encourage members who do attend to learn how to use it. We are not yet at the stage of recording but we are moving steadily towards it.
One thing we have managed to do is buy new geophysical survey equipment. It has been obvious for some time that the equipment we had, which served us well over many years, was becoming less effective. Our reputation as an expert organisation in resistivity surveying has dimmed. This February we took possession of a new TAR-3 system from RM Frobisher along with initial training by the company’s Trevor Andrews, following the generous bequest from the estate of long-time member, Keith Mitchell. The training took place at Cammo where our volunteers were keen to learn the new (for many) skill of geophysical surveying.
This skill will be used initially to train other volunteers at Papple, where we are looking to see if a wall there belonged to a 16[th] Century Tower House or to something else. We also have the opportunity to investigate a possible round house complex further south in East Lothian.
We have to thank the National Trust for Scotland’s Derek Alexander (Senior archaeologist) for allowing us to temporarily store our Cammo finds in Stenhouse Mansions. This is due to our previous storage and workspace at the Edinburgh City Council’s Murrayburn site being no longer available due to its’ imminent demolition. We are very grateful to the Council for the time and space at Murrayburn which was so useful for not only storage but also space to work on the finds. The current situation is a temporary solution so something more permanent must be found.
We would welcome any interest in joining the Committee as we currently have a vacancy and I am still hoping someone on the Committee will volunteer to be Vice Chairman following Doris Koeck’s resignation due to her new job. It would be good to have some succession planning in place.
Cammo 2025-6
There has been a encouraging number of new volunteers signing up to take part in our excavations at Cammo. This seems to have developed over the year but noticeably since the New Year.
This means that, along with stalwarts who are regular Monday volunteers, we have had between 15 and 18 people at a time. This is obviously a good thing but we must look at areas to develop the excavation to allow them all to have a satisfactory experience. We are hoping our new geophysical equipment will allow us to detect new areas worth
investigating. Ann has been searching the records to find hints of the pre 1693 house which would be a wonderful find.
We have been concentrating our work in the area towards the centre of the Walled Garden which has opened out to be a larger and much more interesting building than originally envisaged. The plan of 1895 shows a strange-shaped building off centre of the bisecting East West path. The sales brochure of the same year talks about ‘a Conservatory’. When we first found some bricks amongst the dense ivy we hoped for remains of perhaps one wall. As we cleared the ivy we saw a very utilitarian structure with an entrance to the North. Since then, the uncovered area has grown considerably and an enigmatic building has been uncovered. As usual with Cammo, this throws up more questions than answers.
We have a series of areas with large flag-stoned flooring, At least three entrances. One is to the South, meeting the East West path. One is to the North – our original find and one to the East.
We have found a boiler which with research we have decided is a saddle boiler. Beside it were a series of large thick pipes. We are still looking for the water supply to this and the
fuel storage. We have found a lovely thing, we think is a coal chute, going down from an upper layer to the level of the boiler, its blackened sides redolent of coal.
We also have two large brick-lined oblong pits at least 2ft 10inch deep. We couldn’t clear them to the base due to the amount of water in them. It seems from the whinstone fill that they were filled in by Edinburgh Council in the 1980s for safety. There has been evidence of work on site at this date (Tennants can with woman on the side – ‘Karen’)
There was much discussion as to the use of these deep pits. Theories included fish ponds: pineapple growing pits or ‘dipping ponds’ for watering plants. Needless to say with current weather conditions they are full of water. We have found no pipes going out of them and pipes in the surface layer of brick in the more easterly one. The few bricks found on the site can be dated to the 1870-90’s. It looks most likely that Alexander Campbell who owned the Estate from 1873 to 1896 was the instigator of the ‘Conservatory’ although there are stone wall footings under some of the brick walls that could be from an older structure. We currently have no finds that could confirm this.
We must commend the volunteers who valiantly cleared a fallen tree from the site recently. Luckily it only knocked a couple of bricks out of one of the walls.
Still more work to be done in this area. We are steadily uncovering yet another interesting aspect of the Cammo Estate and communicating our finds to the many interested visitors.
Christine McPherson, Chair
;
EDINBURGH ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SOCIETY SCOTTISH CHARITY SC006520 Treasurer Report to 31 December 2025
|INCOME==
December2024
(31 December2025.
| Unrestricted
| Restricted |
Unrestricted [Restricted]
7
oe
|
Funds
Funds
Total == Funds Funds Total
Subscriptions
~ £1,178.75| | £1,178.75
~ £4,681.91
:
t_-£1,681.91
Donations
£1,620.01|
“£1,620.01
—«£4,887.99|
|
£4,887.99
Invoiced
;
__
£2,000.00!
|£2,000.00
£140.52)
£140.52
Book/Clothingsales
£508.50
£508.50
—«£330.00
|
£330.00
Lectures/Social
|
__ £221.62!
|
£22162 £105.14,
£105.11
GiftAid
|
£0.00)
Le
£0.00
£412.65
£412.65
Misc
ee
£20.00;
£20.00
—s- £12.22
|
£12.22|
|---|
|TotalIncomeBank
& Cash.
£5,548.88
~ €5,548.88
-£7,570.40)
«£7,570.40
Total IncomeSavings a/c
|
£42.47)
|
£42.47
£58.99
|
£58.99|
|TotalIncome
—s_—|
~ £5,591.35|
~
|
£5,591.35
£7,629.39
|
£7,629.39|
|EXPENDITURE
|
es
es ee
Insurance aail | £744.44
£773.17, | «£773.17
Postage,stationery, printing
£350.79)
|
£350.79
£29.89)
|
£29.89
Equipment
|
£275.75
-
£275.75
———-£3,265.96
|
£3,265.96
[Lecture expenses
£745.53}
|
£745.53
£312.50)
|
£312.50
Social, Teas,Committee
|
£23.00,
|
£23.00.
£70.35;
£70.35
Subscriptions
£35.00)
;
£35.00
£110.00
£110.00
Website
if
£144.00, |
£144.00
£144.00,
«£144.00
Miscellaneous
Z
£165.02), = £165.02
£61.12)
£61.12
Resales (Clothing)
|
£508.00
£508.00
—s £321.89
(«£321.89
Training
t—(‘ié‘(YSSSSCO
£0.00
£1,560.00|
———«£1,560.00
Auditor
——(ié‘(S;SSSSCS28OO
5.00
25.000
|
£25.00
Invoiced
|
£2,000.00
|
£2,000.00
£0.00!
|
£0.00
— —
—-——}-
nl TT
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+———
——
4
————
TotalExpenditure
—--|—=—£4,986.53/
| 84,986.53
«6,673.88
= «6,673.88
NetSurplus/Loss
\Surplus
|
£604.82
Surplus
|
£955.51|
|Bankaccountsetc
=———_—s—
As.at31 December2024
___
As at31 December2025
Current Account (BOS)
|
i
| £4,519.83
:
|
£5,416.19
VirginSavingsAccount
7
£4,630.21
|£4,689.20
Cash Held
|
|
;|
«£0.00,
|
£0.16
Book Tokensheld
|
£0.00
£100.00|
|
Dated
___
|Thisstatementofbalances
was signedon behalfof theTrusteesofthe
-
7
7
~ Society byNormaJohnstone,HonoraryTreasurer
;
_
22 ||2o2e
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that she hasexamined
the JanuarytoDecember
2025 accounts of
Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society and finds themtomeet__
ooaofthe Charities Accounts Scotland Regulations 2006
—]Dash
|
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IOUT VON
2602OOL|
– TREASURER REPORT YEAR ENDING 31 DECEMBER 2025
As can be seen from the accounts we had a total income of £7629.39 and total expenditure of £6673.88 giving a surplus this year of £955.51. Our donations total increased to £4887.99 mainly due to the donations from Apple (UK) Ltd who generously donate when one of their employees takes part in charitable work. One of our ex-committee members, Doris Koeck, was employed by Apple and through her we received £3305 in donations. Unfortunately (for us) Doris has now moved on to new employment and so this source of funding has come to an end. Also included in the donations is an amount of £1000 from the family of Keith Mitchell (one of our long-term members who sadly died) and we intend to put this towards the purchase of new geophysical equipment.
The additional income from donations allowed us to increase our expenditure on equipment to £3265. This included the purchase of surveying equipment including an Emlid, GNSS receiver plus stand etc. for surveying and we were also able to pay for training.
We submitted a Gift Aid claim to HMRC for the years 2023 and 2024 and received £412.65. Moving our lectures to Paterson’s Land at Edinburgh University has reduced the cost of lectures to £312.50 as there is no rental cost for the room and our only outlays are for the book tokens given to lecturers and refreshments which we offer free of charge.
Membership of the Society stands at approximately 70 members which is much the same as the previous year. We have had quite a few new members joining us, but we have lost almost the same number. Subscriptions income is higher than last year mainly due to the increase in the cost of membership.
At the 31[st] December 2025 the Bank of Scotland current account showed a balance of
£5416.19 while the Virgin account had £4689.20 held as savings.
Norma Johnstone
Honorary Treasurer
SECRETARY’S REPORT 2025/6
The EAFS lecture series has offered a wide range of monthly talks during the Winter 2025/Spring 2026 season, with the April and May ones still to look forward to. We have welcomed a number of non-members to our lectures, the talks on Treasure Trove, Gardens after the Restoration of Charles II and Roman Inveresk being particularly well attended. Our relocation of the monthly talks from Augustine United Church to a lecture theatre at Paterson’s Land, on the University of Edinburgh’s Holyrood Campus, is working well and we are grateful to the university for allowing us to use their facilities.
Members are sent news and announcements regularly by email and in our seasonal newsletters. They also receive emails with archaeology-related information from further afield such as conferences, opportunities for practical work and excavation, and other societies’ lectures. Our website is updated with EAFS news and announcements and our social media accounts are very active, featuring weekly reports and photos of the excavations at Cammo. Many relevant local organisations and institutions are regularly made aware of EAFS’s activities, including our lecture series and Open Days, and our network of contacts and active participation with some of these has increased again this year.
The benefits of EAFS membership and our continued efforts to be an inclusive and community-minded charitable organisation are regularly demonstrated and promoted at events such as the Edinburgh, Lothians and Borders Archaeology Conference; Edinburgh and Lothians Heritage Network Fair; Scottish Students Archaeology Conference and Edinburgh University Field Work Fair, as well as by our participation in the Edinburgh Doors Open Weekend and our Cammo Open Days.
I extend my sincere thanks to the committee members who continue to contribute to all of the above communication and membership activities and without whose support my role would be a lot more challenging.
Deborah Russell Honorary Secretary