Ballangrew
Moated Site (14th Century), Cauldron (Bronze)(Late Bronze Age), Coin(S) (Roman)
Site Name Ballangrew
Classification Moated Site (14th Century), Cauldron (Bronze)(Late Bronze Age), Coin(S) (Roman)
Alternative Name(s) Flanders Moss
Canmore ID 45371
Site Number NS69NW 5
NGR NS 61774 98868
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/45371
- Council Stirling
- Parish Port Of Menteith
- Former Region Central
- Former District Stirling
- Former County Perthshire
NS69NW 5 61774 98868
(NS 6177 9887) Camp (NR)
OS 6" map (1901)
A quadrangular earthwork with sides measuring 65, 67, 72 and 83ft. Both Christison and Crawford agree that although it is often described as Roman, it is quite certainly mediaeval or later in date.
A Late Bronze Age cauldron or bucket of very thin beaten bronze (now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland {NMAS}: Accession no. DU 11 (J M Coles 1962) was found within the 'camp' in the early 19th century. It is made of three sheets of hammered metal rivetted together and is 1'7" high, 10" in diameter across the bottom; 1'2" across the mouth and 1'4" at the shoulder (J Anderson 1888). According to W M Chrystal (1903), Roman coins (also in NMAS) were found here.
D Christison 1906; O G S Crawford 1949
A mediaeval homestead moat situated in low marshy ground in Flanders Moss; as described and planned by Christison.
There is no record of the Roman coins in the NMAS.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 26 September 1968
This site is listed in an Atlas of Scottish History (McNeill and MacQueen 1996) as a moated site.
Information from RCAHMS (DE) September 1997.
Field Visit (11 June 1957)
This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project. Site descriptions, organised by county, are available to view online - see the searchable PDF in 'Digital Items'. These vary from short notes, to lengthy and full descriptions. Contemporary plane-table surveys and inked drawings, where available, can be viewed online in most cases - see 'Digital Images'. The original typecripts, notebooks and drawings can also be viewed in the RCAHMS search room.
Information from RCAHMS (GFG) 19 July 2013.
Field Visit (July 1978)
Ballangrew NS 617 988 NS69NW 5
A trapezoidal area measuring 23m by 21m internally within a broad, flat-bottomed ditch and external bank. There are slight traces of a possible internal bank on the S side.
RCAHMS 1979, visited July 1978
(Christison 1906, 20-2)
Publication Account (1985)
The well-preserved moated site at Ballangrew now lies on the north-west margin of Flanders Moss, close to agricultural land, but in medieval times, before a phase of extensive land reclamation in the 18th and early 19th centuries, it probably stood deep in the confines of the Moss and may have served as a hunting lodge.
Trapezoidal on plan, the central platform measures 23m by 21m within a broad water-filled ditch up to 8m across which from the outset was probably intended to be wet. There is a slight indication of an inner bank on the south, but the bulk of the material from the ditch has been placed on its outer lip to create a bank up to 1m in height. Access to the interior must have been via a wooden bridge as there is no sign of a causeway across the ditch. In the 18th and early 19th centuries various objects oflate bronze age to Roman date are reported to have been found in the interior, but it is likely that they were found nearby.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Clyde Estuary and Central Region’, (1985).
