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Ha' Hillock
Motte (Medieval)
Site Name Ha' Hillock
Classification Motte (Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Deskford; Ha' Burn
Canmore ID 17986
Site Number NJ56SW 18
NGR NJ 5095 6277
NGR Description Unlocated
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/17986
- Council Moray
- Parish Deskford
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Moray
- Former County Banffshire
NJ56SW 18 5095 6277.
(NJ 5095 6277) Ha' Hillock (NR)
OS 6" map, Banffshire, 2nd ed., (1905)
The Ha-Hill of Deskford is an ancient rath. It is 20ft high, with regular sloping sides, and a flat elliptical top about 30ft by 18ft. It is surrounded at the base by a ditch, part of which is formed by the burn that runs past it. There is an entrance over the ditch.
New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845; J Spence 1892.
A tree-covered motte situated on the W edge of a steep-sided gulley of Ha' Burn and protected on the landward side by a broad ditch. The mound described above was probably circular measuring c.28.0m diameter originally, but is now spread on the E side probably by landslip. The entrance over a causeway, is in the NNW.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 18 September 1961.
Augering Survey (7 April 2019 - 14 April 2019)
NJ 50950 62770 The site (Canmore ID: 17986) was surveyed from 7 to 14 April 2019. An Eijkelkamp percussion corer was used to obtain 38mm diameter cores in 1m sections from the centre of the mound to original ground level. The stratigraphy suggested the mound was built-up from material from the ditch. Charcoal from the original ground level of the mound was dated by the SUERC AMS Laboratory, Glasgow, giving a terminus post quem of 348 to 208 cal BC (95% probability; SUERC-94505 (GU55645)). No cultural material was found during a field walk of the adjacent field to the W. A Late Iron Age date for the construction of the mound is assumed.
Archive: NRHE (intended)
Funder: Aberdeenshire Council
David Nance
(Source: DES Vol 21)
