Accessibility

Font Size

100% 150% 200%

Background Colour

Default Contrast
Close Reset

Publication Account

Date 1985

Event ID 1016579

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016579

The matte at Carnwath, more correctly referred to as Libberton Motte as it originally lay in that parish, is the most impressive Norman earthwork to survive in Lanarkshire and can be viewed with advantage from the Carnwath-Carstairs road (A 70). It is a classic 'pudding basin' mound, circular on plan and rising with steep sides (now unfortunately planted with trees) to a level top, and surrounded by a ditch. For such a massive earthwork (9m in height), the summit area is surprisingly small, measuring a meagre 13.5m in diameter, only marginally larger than the comparatively slight matte at Coulter (no. 46).

The motte may have been built for William de Sommerville (died 1160), who came from Yorkshire to Libberton at the invitation of David I.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Clyde Estuary and Central Region’, (1985).

People and Organisations

References