Archaeology Notes

Event ID 725826

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/725826

NX43NE 4 4861 3825.

(NX 4861 3825) Cairnhead Mote (NR)

OS 6" map (1957)

Cairnhead Mote is a promontory fort, heavily overgrown. A narrow rocky point, rising 20-30' above sea level, is defended on the landward side by two ditches with a medial and an outer mound. The inner ditch is 14' wide 3' 6" deep and 80' long, while the outer is 18' wide. The medial rampart rises 10' above the outer ditch, while the outer mound is slight. An additional defence is provided by a wall bounding the rock at the side of a shallow creek on the N side of the interior.

RCAHMS 1912, visited 1911; TS., visited 1955; R W Feachem 1956

Cairnhead Mote consists of a double rampart with outer ditches and slight traces of a counter scarp. No trace of walling could be found in the N.

Resurveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (IA) 24 January 1973