Aberdeen, Torry, Balnagask House, 'motte'
Garden Feature (Period Unassigned), Motte (Medieval)(Possible)
Site Name Aberdeen, Torry, Balnagask House, 'motte'
Classification Garden Feature (Period Unassigned), Motte (Medieval)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Nigg; Mains Of Balnagask; Balnagask House Policies; Baxter Place
Canmore ID 19989
Site Number NJ90NE 3
NGR NJ 95743 05113
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/19989
- Council Aberdeen, City Of
- Parish Aberdeen
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District City Of Aberdeen
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ90NE 3 9574 0511
For (former) Balnagask House (NJ 9565 0505), see NJ90NE 80.
(Area NJ 957 051). Within the grounds of Balnagask House (NJ90NE 80), opposite Mains of Balnagask, is a little motehill, still standing to a height of 6.0m, overlooking the Dee estuary and Nigg Bay. A Normanised Celtic family, with the territorial designation of de Nug, held the lands in the 12th century.
E Meldrum 1957.
Accepted as motte located within hunting reserve.
P A Yeoman 1988.
(Location amended to NJ 9574 0511 and reclassified as 'Motte'; Garden Feature). This large grass-grown mound, which has previously been identified as a possible motte, is probably no more than a natural knoll that has been adapted as a garden feature in the policies of Balnagask House (NJ90NE 104). The mound rises at least 8m above the surrounding ground, and its top, which measures about 10m across, has been levelled and enclosed by a low bank about 2m in thickness and 0.4m in height. A break in this bank on the SSE opens onto a path leading down to the foot of the mound on the S. On the NE flank of the mound there are several narrow terraces.
The 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Kincardineshire 1869, sheet iv) shows the mound at least partly wooded within the designed policies surrounding the house; the 2nd edition of the map (Aberdeenshire 1902, sheet lxxv.SE) shows the path and depicts the summit enclosure with a circular dashed line. Both editions of the map show that the top of the mound was surmounted by an Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar, but of this nothing can now be seen.
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS) 20 May 2002.
Watching Brief (14 April 2014)
NJ 9574 0511 A watching brief was maintained on 14 April 2014 during the excavation of trial pits in advance of remedial works to the retaining wall at Balnagask Motte. No finds or features of archaeological significance were recorded.
Archive: RCAHMS (intended). Report and photographs: Aberdeen City SMR
Funder: Aberdeen City Council
JC Murray and DI Harding – Murray Archaeological Services Ltd
(Source: DES)
Archaeological Evaluation (23 March 2016)
NJ 95743 05113 Two 2 x 1m test pits were hand dug, 23 March 2016, within the scheduled ancient monument area on the N side of the supposed motte adjacent to the stone boundary wall. This wall is collapsing and the trenches were to look at the depth of the wall and the nature of the ground at the base of the motte. The test pits were 0.7–1m deep, and the natural slope of the motte was recorded in each trench. The
soil contained 19th- and 20th- century finds and there was a tree bole at the bottom of TP1. No archaeological finds or features were recorded.
Archive: NRHE
Funder: Aberdeen City Council
Robert Lenfert and Alison Cameron – Cameron Archaeology
(Source: DES Volume 17, 2016)
Information from OASIS ID: camerona1-251256 (R Lenfert) 2016
