stirling-1963-vol-1/05_210

Transcription

No. 185 -- MOTTES -- No. 186
the NW. half of the base of the mound, but the ditch is
now largely filled in and its counterscarp is obscured by
the construction upon it of a plantation bank.

555887 -- NS 58 NE ("Mote") -- 9 October 1952

185. Motte, Fintry. This motte is situated on the S. side
of the valley of the Endrick Water and 150 ft. above the
W. end of Fintry village. It occupies the crest of a slight
ridge from which the ground falls steeply to the valley
floor on the NE., while in the opposite direction, to the
SW., a slight hollow separates the site from a steep slope
which rises 600 ft. to the summit of Turf Hill.
The motte (Fig. 66 and Pl. 52) consists of an oval

[Plan Inserted]
Fig. 66. Motte, Fintry (No. 185)

mound which is enclosed by a broad ditch. At the present
time much of the surface of the mound is covered with
bracken, while the N. part and most of the ditch are
planted with trees. Except on the W., where it is only
9 ft. 6 in. high, the mound stands about 16 ft. above the
present bottom of the ditch; its top is level and measures
120 ft. in maximum length by 100 ft. in breadth. A
stretch of the ditch has been destroyed by erosion on the
N. side, but elsewhere it is still up to 40 ft. in width and
5 ft. in depth.
In early mediaeval times Fintry lay within the earldom
of Lennox (cf. p. 10), and it is therefore possible that
this motte was the residence from which Maldouen, 3rd
Earl of Lennox, gave two charters about the middle of
the 13th century. ¹

611866 -- NS 68 NW ("Mote") -- 5 July 1955

186. Motte, Sir John de Graham's Castle. This work,
which should probably be classed among the mottes,
stands at a height of a little over 800 ft. O.D., in a
commanding position on the narrow watershed that
separates the River Carron and the Endrick Water. Its
position is on a tongue of raised ground close to the NW.
end of the Carron Valley Reservoir.
The structure is very nearly square on plan (see Fig.
67). It measures 145 ft. from NW. to SE. by 150 ft.
transversely, and consists of a central platform, 75 ft.
from NW. to SE. by 77 ft. transversely, surrounded by a
wide ditch. The surface of the platform is at the original
ground level, and its sides, which are well preserved,
slope down at an angle of 45° for a vertical distance of
9 ft. to the flat bottom of the ditch, which is 18 ft. in
width. The height of the counterscarp varies according
to the original level of the ground; to NW., SW. and
SE., where the ground slopes gently away, it is from 2 ft.
6 in. to 3 ft. 6 in. in height, but to the NE., where the
ditch cuts across almost the whole width of the tongue
of land, both scarp and counterscarp are 9 ft. in height.
There is no obvious means of access to the platform,
which was presumably reached by a drawbridge. The
angle at which its sides rise from the bottom of the ditch
suggests that either the latter was cut through rock, or a
very tightly packed soil, or that the slopes were faced
with stone. A few widely spaced stones forming a
continuous line, which were exposed high up on the E.
corner, lend support to this latter possibility, though at a
point near the middle of the SE. side, where there has
been a fall of earth, no traces of stonework could be seen.
The appearance of the work suggests that it is of
mediaeval date, and traditionally ² is was the residence
of Sir John Graham of Dundaff, who fell at the battle
of Falkirk in 1298 and whose monument may be seen in
the churchyard of Falkirk Parish Church (No. 140). In
the absence of excavation the exact age of the motte is
uncertain, but there seems to be no reason to doubt that
at some time during the mediaeval period it formed the
principal stronghold of the barony of Dundaff, which
was in the possession of Sir David de Graham, the
founder of the house of Montrose and the father or
grandfather of Sir John de Graham, as early as 1237. ³
Immediately to the NE., the broadening surface of the
tongue of raised ground bears signs of occupation. These
include a length of ruinous stone wall 3 ft. 6 in. thick
and built with lime mortar, together with various

1 Lennox, 25 f, 30 f.
2 Stat. Acct., xviii (1796), 388.
3 The Scots Peerage, vi, 201 and 204 f.

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