Golf clubs � History uncovered

Recent excavations for a planned new golf club and course have unearthed medieval history

Recent excavations at the Archerfield estate in East Lothian, Scotland have unearthed the remains of a medieval village under the site of a new golf course. Archaeologists have uncovered several houses from the 12th to 15th centuries in the middle of the 17th fairway of the new course. Every inch of the medieval homes will be recorded before the golf course is safely created on the top. This is a very exciting piece of history and it is important that we know all about the medieval village before the planned golf course goes ahead.

John Gooder, AOC Archaeology senior project officer, said: "We know quite a lot about castles and about medieval towns, but we know very little about rural settlements and it is these sorts of settlements that 90% of Scottish people actually lived in at the time.

"Historical text may talk about church affairs and great affairs of state but they don't actually talk about how the ordinary people lived and that's where excavations like this come in.

"They allow us to fill in the gaps in our knowledge about how the people in Scotland lived in the past."

In an attempt to blend old with new everyone involved is trying hard to make the new golf course as natural as possible. Don Placek, senior design associate at Renaissance Golf Design which designed the new golf course, said: "What we are hoping to do is integrate the contours that were here with the archaeology in such a way that they are not unnatural.

But at the same time trying to incorporate some of the archaeology into those contours, so that whoever plays golf here will have some sense of history and the different things that happened here hundreds of years ago."

Biddy Simpson, East Lothian Council archaeologist, said: "The golf course is really keen to make sure that everyone knows about this site so there will be interpretation in the club house and on the site."

The Renaissance Club at Archerfield, which is due to open in 2008, will consist of an 18 hole championship golf course .