Archaeology Notes

Event ID 722410

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/722410

NT74NE 2 7838 4673.

(NT 7838 4673) Bite-about (NR) (Remains of)

OS 6"map, (1957).

Only fragments of the basement walls, showing no sign of vaulting, remain of a keep or bastel house, measuring 64' by 23', with 3'6" thick walls, with a projecting wing on the N near the NE end, 11' square. According to the ONB, this is supposed to have been a peel, deriving its name from an occasion when, beseiged by the English, its occupants ran short of provisions, and to divide what little they had equally, they took 'bite-about'.

RCAHMS 1915; Name Book 1857.

The remains of Bite-about, name confirmed locally, probably a late bastel-house (cf. Queen Mary's House, Jedburgh) of 16th century date, measure 17.8m NE-SW x 5.0m transversely within walls 1.1m thick. The wing shows indications of a stairway. The remains consist of roughly coursed lime-mortared masonry standing to a maximum height of 2.0m. At the west end is the springing of a barrel vault.

Revised at 1/2500.

Visited by OS(RD) 26 November 1970.