Bridge Of Weir, Castle Hill
Motte (Medieval), Unidentified Pottery (Roman)
Site Name Bridge Of Weir, Castle Hill
Classification Motte (Medieval), Unidentified Pottery (Roman)
Alternative Name(s) Old Ranfurly Golf Course
Canmore ID 42233
Site Number NS36NE 18
NGR NS 38440 65060
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/42233
- Council Renfrewshire
- Parish Kilbarchan
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Renfrew
- Former County Renfrewshire
NS36NE 18 38440 65060
(NS 3844 6505) Castle Hill (NAT)
Motte (NR)
OS 6" map (1968).
Not to be confused with Ranfurly Castle (centred NS 38338 651740, for which see NS36NE 17.
Location formerly entered as NS 3844 6505.
Samian pottery, a bronze key, green-glazed, bones, charcoal and whitening material, found in the Mote Hill, Ranfurly were exhibited in Glasgow in 1911, lent by L M Mann.
Palace of History 1911.
This is a typical motte, 3.0m in average diameter and 6.5m high, surrounded by a flat-bottomed ditch averaging 2.0m wide and 1.0m deep. The ditch has been destroyed on the SW by a golf tee, and on the W the ditch has been replaced by the steep, natural slope. The motte is about 18.0m wide across its flat top, which appears to have shallow rectangular depressions dug into it, possibly indicating a former building, but more probably of recent origin. There is an old mutilation on the W.
Visited by OS (WW), 28 July 1955.
Previous field report confirmed, except that the height is about 5.0m on average, and there is little evidence of the rectangular depressions which, in all probality, are remains of World War II activities.
Visited by OS (WDJ), 14 May 1964.
Castle Hill, situated on Old Ranfurly Golf Course, is a good example of a motte. It was superceded by the nearby Ranfurly Castle (NS36NE 17).
Mr Bonar had a trench made through it to solid rock, but no relics were found (R D McKenzie 1902).
W W Lyle 1975.
Scheduled as 'Castle Hill, motte, Bridge of Weir...'
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 11 February 2011.
