Special Survey: Kinclaven Castle

Date 10 February 2015 - 13 March 2015

Event ID 1011817

Category Project

Type Project

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1011817

2015 RCAHMS Special Survey

This project was carried out in February and March 2015 by RCAHMS as a Special Survey. The site was selected because of the poor quality of the record, and has benefited from the Arts and Humanities Research Council Collaborative Doctoral Award to William Wyeth to study Early Stone Castles, 1050-1350 under the supervision of Professor Richard Oram of Stirling University and Dr Piers Dixon, RCAHMS. The survey team from RCAHMS included Heather Stoddart, John Borland, Georgina Brown, Ali McCaig, William Wyeth and Steve Wallace.

Related Site(s)

People and Organisations

Related Event(s)

Event	Type	Subtype	Notes	Date
1165341	RECORDING	LASER SCANNING	Laser scan data was collected to enable an accurate set of interpreted building plans to be created. Some of the facade was obscured by vegetation.	10 February 2015
1136679	RECORDING	MEASURED SURVEY	RCAHMS surveyed Kinclaven Castle between February-March 2015 producing a ground plan of the castle and two section drawings (scale 1:250). Detailed drawings of the entrance to the north tower (scale 1:20), garderobe passage (scale 1:50), castle entrance (scale 1:20) and profiles of south-west wall exterior (1:20) were also produced. EDM and GPS data was collected to set out a network of control pegs for the survey and to capture data for the castle sections and plan. A series of plane-table surveys were then undertaken, utilising the EDM and GPS data previously collected, to produce the final castle plan and sections. The detailed survey drawings were recorded by tape.	February 2015
1015532	RECORDING	FIELD VISIT	This castle is situated beside the River Tay and its confluence with the River Alyth, and both rivers are now bridged, but before 1905 this was the location of a ferry crossing of the Tay. Although hidden in the trees, this castle has an associated landscape that includes outbuildings and enclosures, possibly for gardens. The castle is of one phase of construction and some 35m square, within walls 1.9m in thickness, still standing up to c6m in height, despite being robbed of much of its facing stones. The castle has no ditch, but sits on a low ridge orientated from NW to SE that runs up to and is cut by the river Tay on the SE, to which it drops steeply. The castle once had squared towers at each corner and has a shallow buttress or pillar midway along the NW wall, which is mimicked by a garderobe pillar midway along the SW, but collapse of the NE wall precludes any confirmation that there was anything to match it on that side. Mid-wall or corner buttresses or pillasters are a feature reminiscent of Castle Sween and Romanesque architecture, suggesting a date as early as the 12th century for this castle, but its documentary history suggests an early 13th century date (see below). Nearer to hand, the castle at Kincardine is a close parallel for a square enclosure castle of similar size without a ditch (Canmore id 36061), and is dated to the reign of Alexander II. [...]	13 March 2015