Archaeology Notes

Event ID 716827

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/716827

NT45NW 1.00 41185 59114

NT45NW 1.01 41251 59073 Walled Garden

NT45NW 1.02 41270 59106 Stables

NT45NW 1.03 41265 59090 Gardeners Cottage

For Queen Mary's Tree, see NT45NW 2.

(NT 4126 5909) Cakemuir Castle (NR) (Restored)

OS 6" map (1957)

Cakemuir Castle is a mid-16th c tower, oblong on plan, 30' E-W by 24 1/2' and four storeys high. It has a turret stair projecting from the N wall. The only provision for defence was a series of gun-loops on the fourth floor, now built up. On the E gable is a heraldic shield, removed from above the original entrance, bearing the Wauchope arms: Adam Wauchope of Cakemuir is on record in 1565. Tranter notes that there have been additions, 18th c and later, to the W side, and that the whole building is still occupied and in excellent condition. Bell alleges that Cakemuir Castle superseded an earlier fortalice, named Black, Castle (NT45NW 11) on the opposite side of the burn.

RCAHMS 1929, visited 1915; N Tranter 1962; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1887; Bell 1893

NT 4120 5912. The proprietor of Cakemuir Castle, Mr M M Scott, suggests that 'restored' should be retained with the published name as the tower was considerably restored about 1949. It remains as described above.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 15 December 1964

Cakemuir Castle is occupied and in excellent condition.

Visited by OS (SFS) 12 August 1975.

NT 4118 5911 Cakemuir Castle is a 16th-century tower house with later additions forming an L-shaped plan. A standing building survey of the domestic west-facing elevation recorded blocked windows and building fabric prior to the erection of a new extension. An archaeological evaluation carried out on the footprint of the site of the new building revealed no archaeological features.

Sponsor: Mr R Douglas-Millar

Michael Cressey, 2006.