Erchless Castle, Burial Ground
Burial Ground (Post Medieval), Motte (Medieval)
Site Name Erchless Castle, Burial Ground
Classification Burial Ground (Post Medieval), Motte (Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Cnoc An Tighe Mhoir
Canmore ID 12402
Site Number NH44SW 5
NGR NH 41052 41085
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/12402
- Council Highland
- Parish Kiltarlity And Convinth
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Inverness
- Former County Inverness-shire
NH44SW 5 41052 41085.
(NH 4104 4108) What may be a motte, mutilated by later landscaping, has been formed from the tip of a promontory about 280m N of Erchless Castle; on the N and W the ground falls steeply to the Erchless Burn, while at the base of the mound on the S and E there is a ditch up to 10m broad and 4m deep. The roughly circular summit, which is occupied by a private burial-ground, measures up to 25m in diameter and stands about 6m above the bottom of the ditch.
RCAHMS 1979, visited 1979; Orig Paroch Scot 1855; E Meldrum 1975
Cnoc an Tighe Mhoir - 'Hillock of the Big House', can be classified with some certainty as a motte, which is over-grown with trees and scrub, except for the summit area which is a private burial ground. The hillock occurs at the W end of a spur with steep slopes on the N and W sides down to Erchless Burn, and is isolated from the spur by a substantial ditch, up to 3.0m deep, curving around the E arc and connecting with the steep natural slopes. An ornamental path ascends the motte, but this does not appear to have altered the profile significantly.
Visited by OS (N K B) 5 March 1981
Field Visit (March 1979)
Erchless, Cnoc an Tighe Mhoir NH 410 410 NH44SW
What may be a motte, mutilated by later landscaping, has been formed from the tip of a promontory about 280m N of Erchless Castle; on the N and W the ground falls steeply to the Erchless Burn, while at the base of the mound on the Sand E there is a ditch up to 10M broad and 4m deep. The roughly circular summit, which is occupied by a private burial-ground, measures up to 25m in diameter and stands about 6m above the bottom of the ditch.
RCAHMS 1979, visited March 1979
OPS 1851-5, ii, 518; Meldrum 1975, 145
