Ochiltree, Mote

NS42SE 4 490 206.

Mote toll-house (NS 490 206) derives its name from a small knoll which stood adjacent to it. It cannot be ascertained whether this knoll was natural or artificial (Name Book 1856).

Smith states that a small segment of "Ochiltree Mote" could be seen under the hedge which divides the road from the field in which the greater part of it stood. Artifacts said to have come from Ochiltree Mote are: (a) a collared cinerary urn; (b) an axe-hammer; (c) three bronze spearheads; (d) a crown piece of James I of England. Items (a) and (b) are in the Carnegie Library, Ayr, while one of the spear-heads (of Middle Bronze Age date, Coles' class D) is in the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow (Accession no: A.1928.2). The whereabouts of the other items are not known.

The cinerary urn was found about 1838 when making the road which by-passed Ochiltree (J Macdonald 1878). No details can be given regarding the find of the axe-hammer; it lay on the window sill of a cottage near Moat toll, and was believed to have been found close by

(J Macdonald 1882). In 1895, one of the spearheads was in the possession of a neighbouring farmer, Mr Montgomerie; it and one other were said to have been found in the Mote; the third, in the possession of Smith, was ploughed up on the site (J Smith 1895).

NSA 1845; J M Coles 1966; F E S Roe 1967; A Morrison 1968; letter from J W Forsyth, Ayr Library, 27 May 1971.

The Mote Tollhouse stands at NS 4906 2059 but there is no evidence of the adjacent knoll. The road has been widened and the field is regularly ploughed.

Visited by OS (MJF) 20 October 1980.