Cocklaw

NT81NE 41 from 85317 18547 to 86057 18533

Cocklaw, on the upper sources of the Beaumont, formed part of the territory of Molle (Mow). A powerful castle stood on this estate between two burns which descend from Cocklaw and Windgatehill. It was besiged by Henry Percy with the Earl of March immediately after the Battle of Hamildon in 1401. It belonged to the family of Gledstones before 1560.

A Jeffrey 1857.

Field investigation produced no information on the site of this tower.

Visited by OS (JLD) 29 August 1960.

The site of a pele 'at Coklaw' is referred to in The History and Antiquities of Roxburghshire (Jeffrey 1857, vol.3 283). The account describes that 'Cocklaw, on the upper sources of the Beaumont, formed part of the territory of Molle (Mow). A powerful castle stood on this estate between two burns which descend from Cocklaw and Windgatehill. It was besieged by Henry Percy with the Earl of March immediately after the Battle of Hamildon in 1401. It belonged to the family of Gledstones before 1560.'

Previous field investigation has produced no information on the location of this site (OS record card, 29 August 1960). However, buildings associated with a series of field-banks and enclosures within the modern fields around Cocklawfoot farm may relate to the medieval pele.

What may be the foundations of the tower are situated on a gentle slope on the base of a spur between the Cocklawfoot and Kelsocleuch burns and about 100m to the SW of the modern farm of Cocklawfoot, at NT 8534 1852. The possible tower measures 7m from N to S by 6m within grass-covered banks (or walls) up to 2m thick and between 1m and 1.5m in height which bear signs of robbing. There are possible opposed entrances on the E and W sides. There is a two-compartment out-shot on the S. The N compartment measures 6m from N to S by 5m within grassed-over banks (or walls), up to 2m thick and up to 0.9m high. There is an entrance at the S end of the W wall. The S compartment measures 2.5m from N to S by 5m within grassed-over bank 2m wide on the E but only 1m thick on the S end. The compartment is open-sided on the W.

The possible tower with its out-shot, is situated immediately W of a subrectangular enclosure partly overlain by the modern dyke on the SW. What may be the last vestiges of a further structure are situated on the E side of the enclosure which lies to the S of the old hill road. This road is bounded on both sides by boundary-banks extending out from Cocklawfoot for some 600m, to about the 305m contour, before returning to the Kelsocleuch and Cocklawfoot Burns on the SW and NE respectively. At the base of the spur the banks are about 15m apart gradually widening to over 60m reflecting the braided courses of tracks as they climb the hillside. On the SW side of the road the boundary-bank winds up across the contours, again reflecting the course of the road as it climbed the spur. This bank has been much reduced in places, after abandonment, whereas the bank on the NE lies hard against the latest and, straightest course of the road. Near its NE end, the bank crosses an earlier field-bank (at NT 8609 1846).

To the NE of the road, opposite the possible tower, and within the fields closest to the modern farm buildings, there are further traces of enclosures and field-banks, displaying a complicated history of reuse. Slight traces of cross-contour rig are visible, from aerial photography (eg RAF 106 G/Scot/UK 121 frame 3355, 20 June 1946), over the moderate NW-facing slopes to the S and E of these field-banks within the modern field-system. The rig becomes more extensive, though still only barely visible on the ground, between this boundary and the boundary-bank previously described, which forms the upper limit of the cross-contour cultivation.

The nature of the cultivation on the S side of the old road is less certain. There are extensive traces of contour cultivation immediately to the E of the possible tower. These extend for 280m from NNW to SSE by 100m maximum over a moderate to moderately steep slope overlooking the Kelsocleuch Burn. Further S, the cultivation is predominantly cross-contour, but in contrast to the pattern observed to the N of the road, where the rig lies adjacent to the boundary-bank, it is outside the area enclosed and would appear to pre-date the boundary-bank. The relationship between the cultivation and the southernmost angle of the boundary-bank is only visible from aerial photographs as most of this area has been afforested. Further cultivation may be observed within the boundary-bank as it returns towards the Kelsocleuch Burn. Here both contour and cross-contour cultivation may be observed, with the latter on the lower slopes.

Information from RJ Mercer (University of Edinburgh) 16 March 1986

RCAHMS MS 2598. No. 37/526