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Castlehill
Moated Site (Medieval)
Site Name Castlehill
Classification Moated Site (Medieval)
Canmore ID 46378
Site Number NS80SE 9
NGR NS 8862 0372
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/46378
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Durisdeer
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Nithsdale
- Former County Dumfries-shire
NS80SE 9 8862 0372.
(NS 8862 0372) Earthwork (NR)
OS 6" map (1957)
Ditched earthwork 38 yds by 35 yds enclosing a much ploughed-down circular mound some 30 yds across and 4 ft high. Old farmstead moat? (Information from J K St Joseph 1938)
Scheduled under Prehistoric Hill Forts, Camps and Ancient Settlements.
A small circular stone with a hole through the centre, perhaps an upper quern stone, ploughed up some years ago, is at Castlehill Farm. Cropmarks centred NS 885 037 may belong to this "set-up". Not visited. (Information from A E Truckell 1953) (Visible on AP's 541/A/549:3076-7) RCAHMS 1920; TSA 1962
This earthwork is situated on low-lying pastureland and comprises a 35.0m square mound enclosed by a broad, dry ditch.
The mound was probably fashioned from a small, natural knoll as its undulating top is up to 2.0m above the surrounding ground level. The ditch is becoming ploughed out on all but the S side where it is 10.0m wide and 1.2m deep. There is no trace of stonework or a ditch causeway. The work does not appear to have ever been circular, as stated, and its non-defensive pastoral setting suggests it is a moated homestead of medieval date.
The adjacent cropmarks noted by Truckell are not evident on the ground; however, RAF AP's show a series of rig and furrow fields which may be associated with this work. The quernstone is now in Dumfries Museum
(Mr Osborne, Castlehill)
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (BS) 17 March 1978
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 (1996 - 2003)
Russell Coleman managed an Historic Scotland funded project to record medieval moated sites in Scotland. Gazetteers were produced for each regional council area between 1996 and 2002 with an uncompleted overall review in 2002-03. The results of the first year of the project were published in Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal, Volume 3 (1997).
