Maiden Castle
Plantation Bank (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Maiden Castle
Classification Plantation Bank (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 30180
Site Number NO21SE 4
NGR NO 2769 1289
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/30180
- Council Fife
- Parish Collessie
- Former Region Fife
- Former District North East Fife
- Former County Fife
NO21SE 4 2769 1289.
(NO 2769 1289) Supposed Site of Maiden Castle (NR)
(Supposed British Fort) (NR)
OS 6"map, Fife, (1921)
The supposed fort of Maiden Castle has been a rectangular enclosure, its main axis north and south and measuring 68 1/2ft by 61ft, of no apparent importance.
The rampart is of earth and rises only slightly above the surrounding level. Two narrow, shallow trenches at the SE end may be attempted excavations.
RCAHMS 1933.
The earthwork consists of one main bank and ditch with a lower bank outside. There is also a circular ditch which grazes the corners of the main earthwork. This can be traced all the way round inside the plantation but it could not be detected in the recently-ploughed field on the other side of the road.
There is no sign of an entrance.
Information from D C Baird 29 June 1956.
The remains of a rectangular enclosure formed by two banks and a median ditch. The inner bank averages 2.0m wide and 0.5m high, the ditch 2.0m wide and 0.3m deep, and the outer bank, which has been destroyed on the east, 1.5m wide and 0.3m high. On the north the enclosure has been destroyed by the roadway.
No trace was seen of the circular ditch described by D C Baird, and no trace of the enclosure is visible in the arable field to the north of the road.
Visited by OS (D S) 31 October 1956.
This is not an antiquity, but is probably a plantation bank or stock enclosure.
Information from Dr K A Steer (RCAHMS) to OS 1 November 1956.
As described by OS (D S) and Dr K A Steer.
Visited by OS (W D J) 21 March 1967.
Field Visit (5 June 1925)
Maiden Castle Fort, supposed Site of.
At an elevation of 200 feet above sea level close to the south side of the highway from Collessie to Auchtermuchty, and broken into on the north by the road, are the remains of the supposed fort of Maiden Castle. It has been a rectangular enclosure, lying with its main axis north and south and measuring over all 68 ½ feet by 61 feet, but there is nothing about it to suggest that it has been a position of importance. The rampart is of earth and rises only slightly above the surrounding level. At the south-east end two narrow and not very deep trenches have been cut through it, as if some tentative examination had been attempted.
RCAHMS 1933, visited 5 June 1925.
Field Visit (23 April 1951)
Indeterminate remains, Maiden Castle (Inv. 112)
There is no trace of a fort at this point, the rectangular enclosure mentioned in the Inventory being bounded by a slight bank of comparitvely recent origin. The Ordnance Survey may be referring to some older structure which has been destroyed by cultivation.
Visited by RCAHMS 23 April 1951
