Courthill, Dalry
Cairn (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Courthill, Dalry
Classification Cairn (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 40989
Site Number NS24NE 3
NGR NS 2924 4958
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/40989
- Council North Ayrshire
- Parish Dalry (Cunninghame)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Cunninghame
- Former County Ayrshire
NS24NE 3 2924 4958.
(NS 2924 4958) Court Hill (NAT) Tumulus (NR) (site of)
OS 6" map (1970)
Court Hill, a barrow, was excavated in 1872 before it was covered in debris from a nearby pit. Before excavation, it was 90ft in diameter and about 15ft high; the NSA, however, refers to the removal of material from it, "greatly disfiguring its appearance" a few years before 1836. Quoting the tradition that this was a justice seat, the NSA adds, "A stone, which tradition asserts to have supported the gallows, formerly stood a little east of the moat."
Excavation revealed a central rectangular enclosure, 45ft by 20ft, built of stakes, and incorporating in its longer sides two opposed pairs of large posts. Within this enclosure were two pits placed 27ft apart, each of which had formerly held large wooden posts; parts of these were still preserved. Some evidence of cremation was found between the posts, at the western end. An inhumation, accompanied by a beaker (N/MR type) was found in a cist-like structure, probably secondary to the barrow's construction. The beaker is in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS Accession no: EG 11) together with a number of small finds from the excavation, viz. two doubled-edge flint knives, four scrapers, and eighteen chips (Acc No: AB 1-24).
This site is closely comparable with the neolithic round barrow at Pitnacree (NN95SW 6) (J M Coles and D D A Simpson 1965).
R W Cochran-Patrick 1875; NSA 1845 (T Johnstone); NMAS 1892; D L Clarke 1970
Laing offers a different interpretation of the results of the excavation, stating that Court Hill (which he erroneously calls Castlehill) was possibly a motte, covering a timber building with a hearth at one end. The beaker does not seem to be contemporary, and the building is better explained as a timber hall, erected prior to the construction of the motte.
Also listed by Talbot (1974) as the site of a possible motte.
L R Laing 1969; 1975
The site of Court Hill is now covered by a slag heap. Site now occupied by private gardens.
Visited by OS (DS) 6 September 1956
