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Archaeology Notes

Event ID 703986

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/703986

NS65SW 5 6495 5263.

(NS 6495 5263) The Tor (NAT) Motte (NR)

OS 1:1250 map, (1973)

The Tor is an artificial mound of earth.

New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845.

The Tor: An oval mound situated on a ridge cut by a stream and a moat. Its summit measures 9.0m E-W by 7.0m, and is 2.0m higher than the ridge on its E side, the W side dropping 10.5m to the stream. Turf has been recently removed from the flat top, but no trace of masonry is apparent. The regularly sloped sides of this mound give it the appearance of a motte.

Visited by OS (J F C) 25 February 1954.

Motte, The Tor: This motte has been formed by scarping the flanks of a natural mound. Its summit, which has been planted with trees, measures 25' x 20'. On the N, W, and E the flanks of the mound fall steeply for about 50' to the stream, but on the S the motte is cut off from the neighbouring ground by a broad ditch which, on the date of visit, has been almost entirely filled by the overflow from a rubbish dump.

Information from RCAHMS MS, 1959 (see archive)

Motte, The Torran: Formerly a free-standing mound in a small valley, it is now almost entirely buried and covered by a plantation. Stone and other building waste has been tipped on the S and E of the mound, infilling the valley on this side, and overreaching the height of the mound. Parallel drains have been dug into the top of the mound, and trees planted. Nine of the original trees on the mound survive, but the roots of the remainder have helped to stabilise the surviving profile on the W. The top has previously been disturbed by digging.

T C Welsh nd.

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