Maiden Castle

NS67NW 12 6431 7848

(NS 6431 7848) Maiden Castle (NR)

OS 6" map, 1958.

Maiden Castle: This motte and bailey is situated at a height of 500' OD on the S slopes of the Campsie Fells, and on the right bank of a burn which has considerably eroded the remains. In addition, the bailey has been damaged by water from a number of springs on the hillside, by the harnessing of one spring to a piped water supply, and by cultivation. The motte 'A' on plan originally consisted of a circular mound surrounded by a ditch 12' wide, but the burn has removed about a third of both mound and ditch. On the S side the mound rises to a height of 18' above the present bottom of the ditch. The flat top is 57' in diameter, and a drop of 43' from it to the stream-bed. Enough of the bailey survives to suggest that it was originally oval, some 170' by 140'within what is now a grass-covered, stony bank (B), some 12' thick and 2' high. Much of the S and W arcs of this bank remain, but the E part has been washed away by the burn, while the N arc has been mutilated by ploughing.

The space within the bailey N of the motte is occupied by mounds arranged as shown on plan. The inner, a substantial stony bank up to 8' high, starts outside the WNW arc of the motte-ditch, and, after curving for a short distance in conformity with the line of the ditch, runs straight NE for 50'. After a gap 8' wide it continues for 32' SE to come to a broken end on the lip of the gorge of the burn. The outer bank, generally similar in appearance to the inner, follows a similar course. Oval baileys containing curved mounds as well as mottes have been recorded in North Devon and Brecon.

RCAHMS 1963, visited 1953.

Maiden Castle, a motte and bailey, is as described and planned by the RCAHMS.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (E G C) 31 August 1966.