Overview of the Stirling Castle site

The Stirling Castle (lost in a storm in 1703) is located on the Goodwin Sands, a series of banks off the East Kent coast that dry at low water and change shape on a seasonal and apparently rotational basis. The Stirling Castle was one of 30 vessels built following orders by Samuel Pepys after 1675, to counter French and Dutch naval power in north-west Europe. The wreck is located within a dynamic burial environment and remote sensing systems offer a safe and accurate method of recording this important site within a mobile and complex environment.

Above: Multibeam survey image of the Stirling Castle taken in 2002.

The Stirling Castle has been surveyed on a number of occasions in the past. Site licensee Bob Peacock and his colleagues from Seadive, Kent, have conducted numerous diving surveys. The Archaeological Diving Unit at the University of St Andrews (1986, 2002) and Wessex Archaeology (2003) have undertaken archaeological and geophysical assessments while British Geological Survey and English Nature have collated environmental datasets.

This corpus of work requires analysis. For instance, preliminary observations indicate no evidence for weed growth or significant colonisation by mussels or other organisms over the exposed structure. However, reports for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) by the Archaeological Diving Unit (ADU) at the University of St Andrews record such coverage in the past. This indicates that the wreck has been through a cycle of exposure, reburial and exposure. It is possible that sand aggregate removal for infill during the recent redevelopment of Dover Harbour is relevant to this sedimentary equation.

Above right: Photograph of a pulley block exposed on the Stirling Castle site.

The Stirling Castle site will be re-surveyed using ultra-high resolution and phase multibeam instruments, high definition sidescan sonar and acoustic ground discrimination systems over two field seasons. Ground truth information will be provided by video images supported by laboratory analysis of material recovered by divers and grab samples for grain size and magnetic signature.

Interactive animation.
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