Archaeology Notes

Event ID 729592

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/729592

NX87SE 1 8976 7393.

(NX 8976 7393) Earthwork (NR)

OS 6" map (1957)

The "Moat of Lochrutton", a very extensive earthwork, gives its name to the neighbouring farm. Upon it "hearths" and other remains are constantly found when ploughing.

Trans Dumfriesshire Galloway Natur Hist Antiq Soc 1906

This large and important "mote" has been so reduced by cultivation as to be nearly invisible. The circular summit of the hill measures 204' in diameter, and the terracing on the WNW can be traced for 208', while the opposite side slopes off for 240'.

It is questionable whether these terraces were not originally ditches, as an old local informant (Mr R Service) stated that the soil is 4' deep there before the ordinary hard ground is reached, and no stones have been found about them. The only stony, hard portion Mr Grierson, the tenant of Moat Farm, knew of, was a longish strip running E-W from the outermost terrace on the E towards the summit. He considers this to be a roadway, and also states the crops grow better on the lines of the terraces. He has picked up several circular stone discs, 5"-8" in diameter and 3/4" thick on the mote.

F R Coles 1893

Several spindle whorls, loom weights, and two flint scrapers from this site, found by W. Grierson in 1912 were purchased for Dumfries Museum

(A E Truckell 1967) and flat stones found in connection with old hearths at this site were shown to the members of the Society in 1903 by R. Service (Trans Dumfriesshire Galloway Natur Hist Antiq Soc 1906).

Fort. Virtually no trace remains. The remains are not suggestive of a mote-hill.

RCAHMS 1914, visited 1912

This earthwork has been almost totally ploughed out, and only faint traces of the two terraces surrounding the hill remain. The alleged roadway could not be located. Nothing has been found recently during ploughing of the site.

Revised at 25".

Visited by OS (DWR) 13 November 1973