Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

SC0253 Carse Mote, Kirkcudbrightshire

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

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HER:  Dumfries & Galloway MDG3642 (None)

NMR:  NX 65 SE 11 (64047)

SM:  1058

NGR:  NX 6955 5336

X:  269550  Y:  553360  (OSGB36)

Summary

Situated on a low-lying hillock on the SE side of the River Dee, this earthwork is roughly rectangular plan, and measures about 50m from NE to SW by 42m transversely (0.2ha) within a stony bank largely reduced to a scarp between 1.5m and 3m in height. This evidently descends into an external ditch which is largely obliterated by cultivation, but measures at least 6m in breadth on the NE where an outer bank some 3.5m in thickness by up to 1m in height rides over the spine of the hillock. The entrance may have been on the SE. The interior is featureless.

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Unconfirmed

Location

X:  -449036  Y:  7334355  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -4.033762625934814  Latitude:  54.857996390956416  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  Scotland

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Dumfries & Galloway

Historic County:  Kirkcudbrightshire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Kirkcudbright

Monument Condition

None

Condition:
Extant   ✓
Cropmark   ✗
Likely Destroyed   ✓

Land Use

None

Current Use:
Woodland   ✗
Commercial Forestry Plantation   ✗
Parkland   ✗
Pasture (Grazing)   ✓
Arable   ✗
Scrub/Bracken   ✗
Bare Outcrop   ✗
Heather/Moorland   ✗
Heath   ✗
Built-up   ✗
Coastal Grassland   ✗
Other   ✗

Landscape

Hillfort Type

None

Type:
Contour Fort   ✓
Partial Contour Fort   ✗
Promontory Fort   ✗
Hillslope Fort   ✗
Level Terrain Fort   ✗
Marsh Fort   ✗
Multiple Enclosure Fort   ✗

Topographic Position

Position:
Hilltop   ✓
Coastal Promontory   ✗
Inland Promontory   ✗
Valley Bottom   ✗
Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop   ✗
Ridge   ✗
Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp   ✗
Hillslope   ✗
Lowland   ✗
Spur   ✗

Dominant Topographic Feature:  None

Aspect:
North   ✗
Northeast   ✗
East   ✗
Southeast   ✗
South   ✗
Southwest   ✗
West   ✗
Northwest   ✗
Level   ✓

Altitude:  30.0m

Boundary

N/A


Dating Evidence

In the absence of excavation, there are neither stratified artefacts nor radiocarbon dates to provide a chronology for the defences. If a rectilinear settlement probably late Iron Age

Reliability:  D - None

Principal Activity:
Pre 1200BC   ✗
1200BC - 800BC   ✗
800BC - 400BC   ✗
400BC - AD50   ✗
AD50 - AD400   ✗
AD400 - AD 800   ✗
Post AD800   ✗
Unknown   ✓

Other Activity:
Pre Hillfort:   None
Post Hillfort:   None

Evidence:No related records

Investigation History

First depicted as a rectangular on John Ainslie's Map of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright in 1797, it is shown in 1850 on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Kirkcudbrightshire 1854, sheet 50) and again on the first 25-inch map (Kirkcudbrightshire 1895, sheet 49.14) as a rectangular earthwork, although in 1890 Coles came to the conclusion that it was an ellipse on plan (1891, 375-77, figs.17-19), an interpretation followed by RCAHMS investigators in 1911 (1914, 122-3, no.233). The earthworks were re-surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS in 1965. More recent oblique aerial photographs by RCAHMS in 2000 and 2002 suggest it is rectilinear.

Investigations:
1st Identified Map Depiction (1797):   John Ainslie's Map of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright (1797)
Other (1850):   Depiction annotated Carse Moat and, in Roman type, Roman Camp, on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Kirkcudbrightshire 1854, sheet 50)
Earthwork Survey (1890):   Plan and description by Frederick Coles (1891, 375-77, figs.17-19)
Other (1893):   Depiction on 25-inch map (Kirkcudbrightshire 1895, sheet 49.14)
Other (1911):   Description by Alexander Curle (1914, 122-3, no.233)
Other (1937):   Scheduled
Other (1965):   Resurveyed at 1:2500 by the OS
Other (2000):   Oblique aerial photography by RCAHMS

Interior Features

Featureless and probably cultivated

Water Source

None

Source:
None   ✓
Spring   ✗
Stream   ✗
Pool   ✗
Flush   ✗
Well   ✗
Other   ✗

Surface

None

Interior Features (Surface):
No Known Features   ✓
Round Stone Structures   ✗
Rectangular Stone Structures   ✗
Curvilinear Platforms   ✗
Other Roundhouse Evidence   ✗
Pits   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✗

Excavation

None

Interior Features (Excavation):
No Known Excavation   ✓
Pits   ✗
Postholes   ✗
Roundhouses   ✗
Rectangular Structures   ✗
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✗
Nothing Found   ✗

Geophysics

None

Interior Features (Geophysics):
No Known Geophysics   ✓
Pits   ✗
Roundhouses   ✗
Rectangular Structures   ✗
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✗
Nothing Found   ✗

Finds

None

Interior (Finds):
No Known Finds   ✓
Pottery   ✗
Metal   ✗
Metalworking   ✗
Human Bones   ✗
Animal Bones   ✗
Lithics   ✗
Environmental   ✗
Other   ✗

Aerial

None

Interior Features (Aerial):
APs Not Checked   ✗
None   ✓
Roundhouses   ✗
Rectangular Structures   ✗
Pits   ✗
Postholes   ✗
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Other   ✗

Entrances

See main summary

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  
0:   None

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   In 1911 thought to have been on the SE

Guard Chambers:  ✗

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗

Entrances:No related records

Enclosing Works

Probably two with a medial ditch

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   0.2ha.
Total:   0.2ha.

Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✗   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✓   None

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   2
SE Quadrant:   1
SW Quadrant:   1
NW Quadrant:   1
Total:   2

Morphology

Current Morphology:
Partial Univallate   ✓
Univallate   ✗
Partial Bivallate   ✓
Bivallate   ✗
Partial Multivallate   ✗
Multivallate   ✗
Unknown   ✗

Detailed Morphology:
Partial Univallate   ✗
Univallate   ✗
Partial Bivallate   ✗
Bivallate   ✗
Partial Multivallate   ✗
Multivallate   ✗

Surface Evidence

None

Enclosing Works (Surface):
None   ✗
Earthen Bank   ✓
Stone Wall   ✗
Rubble   ✗
Wall-walk   ✗
Evidence of Timber   ✗
Vitrification   ✗
Other Burning   ✗
Palisade   ✗
Counter Scarp Bank   ✗
Berm   ✗
Unfinished   ✗
Other   ✗

Excavated Evidence

None

Enclosing Works (Excavation):
None   ✗
Earthen Bank   ✗
Stone Wall   ✗
Murus Duplex   ✗
Timber-framed   ✗
Timber-laced   ✗
Vitrification   ✗
Other Burning   ✗
Palisade   ✗
Counter Scarp Bank   ✗
Berm   ✗
Unfinished   ✗
No Known Excavation   ✓
Other   ✗

Other

Gang Working:
✗   None

Ditches:
✓   None

Number of Ditches:  1

Annex:
✗   None

References

Coles, F R (1891) 'The motes, forts and doons of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright (part 1)', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 25, 352-96

RCAHMS (1914) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Fifth report and inventory of monuments and constructions in Galloway, II, county of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, Edinburgh



Terms of Use

This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 and should be cited as:

Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk


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