Field Visit
Date 2 March 1998 - 6 March 1998
Event ID 1194010
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1194010
NJ31SE 1 35151 12957
This large and impressive motte probably has a natural mound at its core, although a great deal of earth-moving and sculpting was undoubtedly involved in its construction. It stands to a height of up to 12m above the bottom of the encircling ditch and its roughly oval summit measures 80m from NNW to SSE by 40m transversely. Around the edge of the summit are the low, grass-grown remains of a curtain wall, which, on the S, has been exposed by excavation to reveal a mortared stone wall 2m thick. Immediately to the NW of the exposed wall excavation has also revealed a deeply set rectangular chamber measuring 6m from NW to SE by 4.6m transversely internally. An area of disturbance immediately to the NE of the chamber, including a metal post set in concrete, represents the remains of a Second World War observation post. A large rectangular building straddles the summit and cuts off the northernmost third of the interior from the rest. The building is defined by little more than stone footings and the edges of old excavation trenches dug to follow its walls, but it measures 30m from NE to SW by 11.3m transversely overall. Access to the summit was probably originally gained on the S, where a modern path ascends the motte, whilst a break in the curtain wall at the NW apex is probably modern.
The ditch is some 15m broad and 3m deep, but the low bank that can be traced along its outer lip, is clearly later in date, overlying a broad terrace of made ground that surrounds most of the site. The only gaps in this terrace are on the S, where it may have been destroyed by the road, and on the N. The purpose of this feature is unclear; it is broader (up to 25m) and more regular on the W, but narrower (up to 12m) on the E, where it has a curious wavy outer edge that appears to represent a series of contiguous soil dumps. On the W it is overlain by structures that probably post-date the occupation of the site. These include at least one rectangular building measuring 11.8m from E to W by 4.7m transversely over a low bank, a kiln and an enclosure, and there are also several indeterminate features.
The ditch was formerly water-filled, the water entering through the break in the terrace on the N from an artificially created lake, now drained and planted with conifers. The lake was created by the construction of a dam, 11m thick and about 2m high, which ran NE from the E side of the break in the terrace for a distance of 150m, capturing at least one burn and certainly flooding the area to the N and NE of the motte.
Visited RCAHMS (PC, SPH, KM), 2-6 March 1998.
