Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 2

An Archaeological Study of Clay Pipes from the King's Bastion, Fortress of Louisbourg

by Iain C. Walker

Part I The King's Bastion and its Casemates: Summary

A suggested summary of the history of Casemate 1 Right, as deduced from the clay pipe evidence, amplified by the interpretation of the archaeological sequence and dated by historical evidence, may be given as follows. Between its completion in the mid-1720s and 1749-50, the casemate seems to have remained virtually empty of refuse and other unwanted material and to have contained only a little construction debris. In 1749 or 1750, it was deliberately filled for a depth of several feet with refuse which probably was brought from the chateau ditch and which included pipe material covering a period of about 40 years. Subsequently, but by 1755, the topmost part of this fill was removed and a wooden floor, associated with Layers 8 and 7 below it, was installed. In 1755, when this floor was the open surface, the rear wall was entirely dismantled and rebuilt. Layers 6 and 5, associated with this reconstruction, are thus dated to 1755. Between 1755 and 1760, three layers of material — Layers 4, 3 and 2 — were deliberately laid over this level, and in 1760, English sappers had to cut through these three layers when they ran short of wood for shoring their mines and removed some of the timbers that had been set in the reconstructed wall five years previously. The material that partially backfilled this trench (Intrusion 1) should thus date to no later than 1760. The hollow in the top of this refilled trench was filled with the material (Layer 1) that fell on top of Layer 2 when the rear wall collapsed. Thus Layer 2 was deposited by 1760 at the latest, though if its surface remained open after the demolition crews had finished their work, material from the subsequent occupation by the English, and indeed later, could have accumulated on top of it. There is no evidence for this, however, and because the hollow left by the removal of the timbers in 1760 showed no deposit between its top and the sealing Layer 1, the rear wall may have collapsed relatively soon after 1760. In such notoriously damp and leaking structures as the casemates had always been — French and English records mention this many times — it is difficult to believe that such a hollow would not have collected water and silt.