Hattonslap, 'castle Of Dalforky'

NJ83SW 3 8066 3357.

The Castle of Dalforky stood near St Bartholomews Chapel (NJ83SW 1) on the farm of Hattonslap (NJ 81 33).

W F Scott 1895.

The site of the Castle of Dalforky is at NJ 8066 3357, on a slight natural eminence now ploughed over, according to Mr J T Fyvie, the present farmer. His late father knew both the name and the site, where discoloured earth had been ploughed up for an area of about a 1/4 acre, but no buildings were seen. Nothing now remains. The name, Hattonslap, is probably derived from Ha' or Halltown.

Mr Fyvie was told by Simpson that this was probably either a motte or homestead moat.

Visited by OS (NKB) 27 February 1969; Information from Mr J T Hattonslap Methlick; (undated) information from W D Simpson.

(Reclassified as possible moated site). Nothing is visible of this possible moated site, which stood on a low rise in what is now a cultivated field about 420m W of Hattonslap farmsteading (NJ83SW 17.00).

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 13 May 1999.

References to Mr J T Fyvie and Mr J T Hattonslap have been confused, it should read Mr J T Fyvie of Hattonslap.

Information from John J K Lind of Balgove Farm, via e-mail to RCAHMS from D Lynn, 18 August 2006

Walkover surveys of five locations for a possible six-turbine wind farm and ancillary features in July and October 2006 have identified a number of previously unrecorded archaeological sites and finds at two of the locations and elsewhere in the area. These would be avoided by the wind farm construction, so have not been intrusively investigated.

NJ 8066/3357 A partial walkover of the field containing the Castle of Dalforky site (NJ83SW 3; SMR NJ83SW0003) discovered 15 lumps of dark green-black non-metallic glassy slag, including one massive sub-cubic fragment with edges of c 0.15m and weighing 1.7kg, with many more fragments left in situ within the field and the neighbouring Hattonslap farm compound ground surfaces. Two different body sherds of pottery were found on the summit area at NJ 80671/33610 alt 124m within the monument zone, one being a local medieval redware of the 14th to 15th century, and the other possibly a Germanic brown Frechen stoneware of the 16th to 17th century or a subsequent British copy from the 17th to 18th century. Castle of Dalforky is recorded as the site of a castle where discoloured earth was visible over an area of c acre until being extensively ploughed up several decades ago. It may have been a motte or homestead moat from the 12th to 13th century related to a hunting reserve, with the pottery finds giving a potentially extended duration of use of four to five centuries. The glassy slag characteristics suggest an intensive industrial process, possibly from an 18th- to 19th-century blast furnace or from glass production, though neither explanation matches the known history of the monument nor of the Hattonslap farming settlement.

Reports lodged with Aberdeenshire Council SMR. No substantive archive created at this stage.

Sponsor: JW and F Find, 2006.