Sean Caer

NS71SE 3 7789 1046.

(NS 7789 1046) Sean Caer (NR) (Site of)

OS 6" map (1958)

A hillock on Broomfield farm is thought by early authorities to have been "Sean Caer", "the old fort", from which the name Sanquhar derives. Some 20' high, it stands on a ridge across which are the remains of a broad deep trench, a natural ravine, now ploughed down.

APs (541/A/545: 3174-5, flown 1950) show ground disturbance in the area.

R Simpson 1853; J Brown 1891; RCAHMS 1920

A natural sharp-featured hill with a cutting on its N side which adds to its defensive appearance. It is an excellent spot for a castle site, but is not characteristic of a fort.

Visited by OS (JD) 26 May 1954

This grass-covered, flat-topped hillock has almost certainly been utilized for defence, the whole being consistent with castle earthworks. A largely artificial ditch, necessary to protect the weak tapering north end of the hillock, curves around the north and north west side and survives to a maximum width of 9.0m and depth of 1.5m, with traces of an external counterscarp and a central causeway. The ditch merges with a natural gully at its extreme north end and fades 25.0m south of the causeway.

The hill-top measuring 60.0m N-S by 40.0m E-W, has amorphous undulations indicitive of stone robbing, but no wall-lines or foundations are visible.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (JRL) 17 April 1978