Archaeology Notes

Event ID 726432

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/726432

NX36NE 3 3814 6621.

(NX 38146621) Mote (NR)

OS 6" map (1957)

A well preserved motte (R W Feachem 1956) surrounded by a ditch which appears to have been wet.

The mound on plan is a square of 60ft at base, and has an elevation of from 8ft 6ins to 10ft 9ins from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the scarp. The summit, also quadrangular, is not quite square, but measures some 40 x 32ft. At the W end there is an oblong depression measuring 27 x 16ft, and sunk from 3 to 4ft below the crest of the scarp, and somewhat less below the rest of the summit. A break in the parapet some 3ft wide at the SW corner suggests the position of an entrance. At the SE corner an L-shaped projection rises about 2ft above the general level of the summit. Without excavation it is not possible to determine whether it is a mass of rock or building. The ground level falls towards the N, and except on the S side the ditch is contained by a bank measuring about 28 ft in thickness at base on the NE side where it is heaviest, and where on its outer face it shows one or two courses of a revetting wall. At the SW angle there is a break in the regularity of the counterscarp, which appears to indicate an approach.

RCAHMS 1912

The motte is generally as described above.

Resurveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (RD) 26 September 1966