Howden, Motte

NT42NE 1 4584 2686.

(No Grid) THE MOTE (NR)

OS 6" map (1900)

Motte, Howden, An oval rocky knoll, which protrudes from the back of a ridge 700 yds ESE of Howden farmhouse, has been adapted to form a motte by trimming its sides and enclosing it within a ditch and external rampart. The ditch was originally about 30ft in width, but is now largely filled up, appearing merely as a terrace on the N and S sides, while the rampart of earth and stones has been heavily mutilated, and in places wholly destroyed, by encroaching cultivation.

An original entrance, at present used by a cart-track, can be seen at the W. end, where the rock has been left uncut to form a causeway across the ditch, but it is uncertain whether the corresponding gap in the defences at the opposite end is original or secondary. The top of the motte is level, with maximum measurements of 235ft from E to W by 150ft transversely. It is bordered almost all round by a low earthen bank, but the slight appearance of this bank, and the fact that in the SW. half it is set back several feet from the natural crest of the knoll; suggest that it is a later feature; together with a number of similar banks which verse the top of the motte it is most probably connected with the occupation of a cottage whose ruins overlie the ditch at the W. apex.

Nothing is known about the history of this motte, the earliest record of its existence being Blaeu's Atlas of 1654, where it is marked as 'Moote'.

RCAHMS 1957, visited 1950

Excavation in 1957 revealed the post-holes of a wooden palisade around the rim of the mound, and a stone floor. In size and alignment the motte corresponds very closely with the 'Fortalice of Selkirk' (NT42NE 9) ordered to be constructed by Edward I in 1302 and described by Craig- Brown (T Craig-Brown 1886).

P Fenton 1957

NT 4584 2686 Generally as described by the RCAHMS.

Resurveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (RD) 21 January 1966