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Publication Account
Date 1985
Event ID 1016583
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016583
This motte is perched on the edge of the degraded cliff-line and, except on the west, is defended by two broad flat-bottomed ditches accompanied by external banks. The oval central mound measures 31m by 24m in diameter and the summit rises to a height of 4.5m above the bottom of the inner ditch. There is no sign of a causeway across the ditches and access to the interior must have been by way of a timber bridge. An unusual feature of this site, and one for which it is difficult to find a parallel, is a stone-walled enclosure built on top of the mound. Roughly circular on plan, it measures 14m in diameter within a wall spread to a thickness of 4.5m and up to 1m in height. As it is not placed on the edge of the summit, it is unlikely to be part of a defensive wall or rampart and, if it is contemporary with the use of the motte (which there is no reason to doubt), it may have formed part of the sub-structure of the central timber tower. It certainly has no gap for an entrance and this would be in keeping with a first-floor entry to the tower.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Clyde Estuary and Central Region’, (1985).
