Castle O'er Estate
Linear Earthwork (Iron Age)
Site Name Castle O'er Estate
Classification Linear Earthwork (Iron Age)
Alternative Name(s) Slippery Knowe; Cleave Sike; Whiteyetts
Canmore ID 67367
Site Number NY29SE 68
NGR NY 25025 93268
NGR Description NY 25000 93605 to NY24951 93023
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/67367
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Eskdalemuir
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Annandale And Eskdale
- Former County Dumfries-shire
Scheduled (with NY29SW 41 and NY29SE 68) as 'Whiteyett, earthworks 575m SSE to 935m S and 650m S to 1060m S of... the earthwork remains of two discrete lengths of double linear abanks and [a] medial ditch, interpretred asd evidence of pastoral agricultural practice dating to the early centuries of the 1st millennium AD [and also] the earthwork remains of an unfinished settlement...'
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 24 March 2010.
Field Visit (August 1980)
Castle O'er Estate
The existence of linear earthworks around Castle O'er fort (NY29SW 10) was first noted by William Roy in the mid-eighteenth century. In 1896, Richard Bell, a local antiquary, recorded an extensive system of 'trenches' on a map of the Castle O'er estate; this map is now in the Dumfries Museum. Although many of the features recorded by Bell appear to be old roads, tracks and stream gullies, there can be little doubt that large areas around the Castle O’er fort were once enclosed by linear earthworks in conjunction with natural features.
(R) NY 250 936 to 250 932; a linear earthwork which runs from the edge of the river terrace on the E side of the White Esk to a stream gully 500m to the N. Linear earthworks can be identified on the E side of the River White Esk but no link can now be demonstrated with those on the W side; two (R and S) cut off the area around Slippery Knowe in conjunction with stream gullies and the White Esk.
RCAHMS 1980, visited August 1980
(SRO, RHP 9629; Roy 1793, 120; Stat. Acct., xii, 1794, 607; Fraser 1878, ii, 467-8; Armstrong 1883, 147 and Appendix, p. viii, no. iii; Christison 1898, 159-62, 360-2; Bell 1905; RCAHMS 1920, pp. 71-3, Nos. 176-7; NMRS, DFD/156/1, DFD/157/1, DFD/303/39-4-2)
Note (1997)
NY 2500 9361 to 2500 9316 NY29SE 68
See also NY29SW 9, NY29SW 32 and NY29SW 41.
Listed as linear earthwork (with NY29SW 32, 41-5 and NY29SE 68, 70-2).
RCAHMS 1997.
