'Moathead'
Motte (Medieval)
Site Name 'Moathead'
Classification Motte (Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Kirktown Of Auchterless
Canmore ID 19217
Site Number NJ74SW 3
NGR NJ 7147 4167
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/19217
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Auchterless
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Banff And Buchan
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ74SW 3 7147 4167.
(NJ 7147 4167) Moathead (NR)
OS 6" map, (1959)
A small artificial, oval-shaped eminence, surrounded by a ditch, (much filled up in places), and situated in the immediate vicinity of the church (NJ 7136 4158), is called Moathead. Reputedly the scene of a baronial court where criminals were tried, and taken to Gallows Hill (NJ 68 42) for execution.
New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845.
The earthwork remains of an early Norman castle.
W D Simpson 1935.
'Moathead', the ploughed-down remains of a motte on the brink of a steep SE-facing escarpment. It consists of a denuded mound c.27m in diameter and 1.5m high surrounded on the NE, NW and SW by an ill-defined ditch averaging 15m wide and 0.6m deep which is overlaid in the NW by a farmyard extension.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (AA) 18 January 1973.
