Ogilface Castle Geophysical Survey
Date 2008
Event ID 1158680
Category Project
Type Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1158680
Area ground resistance and magnetometry surveys were made over two sites to the west of Armadale. The first is recorded by RCAHMS as Ogilface Castle (site of) standing on a narrow ridge that juts eastwards into the Barbauchlaw Glen. The ground resistance survey was made over four 20 by 20m squares proceeding to the west from the eastern end of the promontory with one further square added to the north of the fourth square where the promontory widened. The magnetometry survey was made at a later date over the first four of these squares.
The printouts of the resistance and magnetometry surveys correlate well with an apparent double? Tower at the eastern end. Magnetometry shows up one section better than that in the resistance plot and vice-versa. It is possible that the building was erected in two phases with the more easterly in igneous stone and the other half in sandstone; both occur locally. The survey printouts also show possible building foundation outlines stretching at least 50m to the west of the tower. A clear linear high resistance and matching line of magnetic anomaly along the line of the southern scarp of the promontory suggest a defensive wall. Less regular high resistances occur on the north side of the promontory; these may also indicate a wall that has largely collapsed due to erosion caused by the small burn on this side; the small burn curves to join the Barbauchlaw Burn lower down the glen.
Stand Hill lies about 2km to the west of Ogilface Castle and an outline of a small building is shown on the O.S. 1:2500 map of 1983. This building is surrounded by enclosure banks, a circular feature, possible track-ways and rig and furrow cultivation; all of these show up well on a variety of aerial photographs.
Thirteen 20 by 20m squares were laid out to include most of the main features and were surveyed using both ground resistance and magnetometry equipment. The area contains many igneous rocks and features on the magnetometry printout are difficult to interpret but do correlate with the resistivity survey results. Both surveys confirm features seen on the ground and in the aerial photographs. High resistance and magnetic anomalies align with some of the banks suggesting residual walls and stone clearance appears to have taken place within the enclosure that includes the building.
H M D Jones, 2008.
