Montrose's Trench
Moated Site (Medieval)
Site Name Montrose's Trench
Classification Moated Site (Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Montrose's Dike; Craigton; Hattonburn
Canmore ID 18559
Site Number NJ70SW 4
NGR NJ 7170 0036
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/18559
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Banchory-ternan
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Kincardineshire
NJ70SW 4 7170 0036
(NJ 7170 0036) Montrose's Trench (NR) (Site of)
OS 6" map, Kincardineshire, 2nd ed., (1904)
From the map this would appear to be a medieval moated house site.
O G S Crawford 1949.
'Montrose's Dike', said to be an encampment of Montrose.
New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845.
'Originally a trench...It was filled in when the surrounding land was cultivated but a very slight depression on the ground still shows its position.
Name Book 1864.
Montrose's Trench, situated in a pasture field, is an extremely vague depression, 0.3m deep, forming 3 sides of a rectangle, almost completely ploughed out, rendering survey action impractical.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS January 1965.
Little remains visible of this rectangular ditched enclosure (formerly about 50m across); it is probably of medieval or later date.
RCAHMS 1984, visited January 1983.
Name Book 1864; NSA 1845; O G S Crawford 1949.
This site is listed in an Atlas of Scottish History (McNeill and MacQueen 1996) as a moated site.
Information from RCAHMS (DE) September 1997.
(RCAHMS Marginal Lands Survey noted).
NMRS, MS/712/65.
Field Visit (1 May 1953)
NJ 716 004
This has been a rectangular earthwork measuring 200ft in length by at least 145ft in width within a substantial ditch at least 20ft across. The S side has been destroyed by the public road and the rest has been cultivated, with the result that the ditch is now scarcely visible. It is unquestionably a homestead moat as Crawford suggested (Topography 147). The ditch shows distinctively as a crop-mark on National Survey Air Photograph UK/131, 4332 and overall measurements should be checked against this photograph.
Visited by RCAHMS 1 May 1953.
Field Visit (January 1983)
NJ70SW 4 7170 0036
Little remains visible of this rectangular ditched enclosure (formerly about 50m across); it is probably of medieval or later date.
RCAHMS 1984, visited January 1983.
(Name Book 1864; NSA 1845; O G S Crawford 1949).
