High Drummore

NX13NW 12 1297 3592.

(NX 1299 3591) Mote (NR)

OS 6" map (1957)

This motte (R W Feachem 1956) was protected on the W by a rampart and ditch, now almost obliterated by a field dyke and cultivation. On this side, the mound is 10' high, but is 23' high to the E. The summit is c. 40' in diameter, and has a hollow c. 18' across and 3' - 4' deep, with an entrance from the E. From its base on either side a rampart passes down the slope towards the E with an interspace of 60', forming a base court into which there was an entrance now c. 8' wide, at the base of the mound on the S. The rampart on the S of the base court is c. 24' thick at base and 6' high externally. Between it and the edge of the glen lies a terrace 20' wide near the mound, decreasing to the E where it is 6' wide. There is no return of the ramparts across the slope at the E end.

RCAHMS 1912, visited 1911

No trace remains of a rampart and ditch around the W side of the motte, and the hollow in the top of the motte is probably only a mutilation. Otherwise as described.

Resurveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (DWR) 28 January 1972

This motte-and-bailey castle is situated at the tip of a promontory 60m N of High Drummore farmstead. The motte rises to a height of 2.5m and is oval summit, which has been dug into, measures 10m by 6.3m. The bailey lies on the E and measures 28m by 20m within a bank (up to 7.2m thick and 2.5m high on the S), which originally also enclosed the motte; the W section, however, has been removed by cultivation. The entrance was probably on the S.

W M'llwraith 1877; R W Feachem 1956; G Stell 1972; RCAHMS 1912; 1985, visited June 1984