Minnigaff Motte

NX46NW 8 4103 6648

(NX 4103 6648) Mote (NR)

OS 6" map (1957)

Motte. The Mote of Minnigaff is the top of a natural promontory, formed by the confluence of the River Cree and the Penkiln Burn, and cut off by an artificial ditch 50 to 60ft wide. The sides of the Mote rise to a height of 60 to 70ft above the streams, but on the W and S a road has been formed some 35ft below the summit, its construction considerably interfering with the contour of the eminence. The summit, which is sub-oval running to a point towards the S, measures 106ft long by 45ft broad near the centre. There is a marked hollow at the N end into which a narrow pathway leads from the cutting (ie the ditch), and lying parallel with the sides, 7ft back from the edge, is clearly traceable a low stony bank of foundation which curves across the top some 22ft back from the S extremity.

RCAHMS 1914; F R Coles 1893; R W Feachem 1956.

The motte was probably built prior to 1209, when the first recorded parson of the adjacent church attested a deed. It was stormed in 1298 by Wallace, an event recorded in a poem of Blind Harry who adds that it was thereafter slighted, the bulwark and drawbridge being thrown into the river.

R C Reid 1926

As described by RCAHMS and planned by Coles. The ditch now forms part of a graveyard. The low stony bank on the summit of the motte is only visible on the S and W sides.

Resurveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (RD) 26 September 1966.

Scheduled as 'Minnigaff, motte S of Monigaff [sic.] Parish Church... visible as an upstanding earthwork'.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 7 June 2004.