Proncy Special Survey
Date 6 May 2015
Event ID 1019251
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1019251
Proncy motte occupies a modified natural mound situated in the middle of a gully about 200m N of Proncy farm, with exposures of bedrock visible on its NE and SW. The mound itself is oval on plan and measures about 48m from N to S by 44m transversely by 3m in height, within a ditch preserved on the S that measures about 5m in breadth and about 0.25m in depth. The edge of the flattish summit is marked by a stony bank up to 2m in thickness and 0.6m in height, defining an area that measures 37m from N to S by 35m overall. A return on the SE arc may mark the entrance, but the large hollow on the WSW which interrupts the perimeter wall may be the result of the later robbing of stone rather than an entrance. Two lines of facings are visible on the SW arc suggesting two phases of perimeter wall. The interior of the summit is dominated by the truncated remains of a late or post medieval tower or range measuring about 15m from N to S by 10m across overall. Where best preserved on the W it seems to have had a wall about 1.4m in thickness that stands to over a metre in height. Quarrying for stone has left a berm at the W, N and E on which there are traces of grass-covered stony walls of demolished buildings.
A pond to the NW of the motte that once supplied water to the nearby farmsteading is dammed on its SW side where a sluice gate is visible and on the NE to a lesser degree. It is fed by a spring that could also have filled a moat with water.
A land unit called ‘Proinci’ is mentioned in a charter, dated 1222-45, constituting the Chapter of Caithness by Gilbert, Bishop of Caithness. A later charter (2 September 1275), detailing an agreement between Archibald, Bishop of Caithness and William, Earl of Sutherland, mentions three davochs of ‘Proinsy’ (Johnston, Johnston and Beaton, 1928).
Visited by RCAHMS (PD, WW, AMcC) 6 May 2015
