dumfries-1920/04-112

Transcription

CLOSEBURN.] -- INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. -- [CLOSEBURN.

now best preserved, it has a depth of 10 feet
below the top of the scarp and 7 feet below
that of the counter-scarp. The rampart at
greatest height rises to about 3 feet above the
interior level and is very stony. On the west
there is a considerable gap in the defences at
a point where the ground on the interior rises
sharply to a height of 7 feet, and the trench,
less deep at this point, may have been filled
in and obliterated by cultivation. The en-
trance, 12 feet wide, has been from the east,
passing across the trench on unexcavated
ground and through the rampart. Immedi-
ately on the right of it, in the interior, on
slightly elevated ground, is a circular area
enclosed by a bank and measuring 41 feet
in diameter. It is entered from the west dia-
metrically opposite to the entrance to the fort.
xxxi. N.E. (unnoted). -- 20 June 1912.

64. Fort, Benthead. - About 1/4 mile north-
north-east of Benthead, on the south-east bank
of the Linn and some 60 yards down from the
fine waterfall known as the "Grey Mare's Tail,"
is a small circular entrenchment. The ground
falls from the southward towards the edge
of the Linn, and directly overlooks the con-
struction, which forms a small plateau above
the precipitous bank 60 to 70 feet in
height. The mound is encircled by a horse-
shoe trench, some 20 feet wide, the ends of
which rest on the bank, and it has nowhere
a height of more than 5 feet above it, while
on the upper side it does not exceed 3 feet 6
inches. The summit area measures 40 feet in
diameter, and is not very level. On the south-
west face is a depression some 12 feet across
which gradually falls to a depth of 4 feet be-
low the summit level. This appears to be
secondary, and the soil from it has seemingly
been used to level a platform at the edge of the
bank of the Linn and partly to close the end of
the trench in that direction. This construction
is very similar to that on the Wanlock Water
up the Crawick Pass, in Sanquhar parish
(No. 553).
xxii. S.E. (unnoted). -- 20 June 1912.

65. Mote, Dinning. - This mote (fig. 31) lies
some 200 yards north of the farm of Dinning,
and with its base-court or bailey is fashioned
on a long natural hillock lying north-west and

south-east, which rises out of a stretch of haugh-
land reaching to the Nith, about 1/4 mile to the
westward. The east slope of the valley com-
mences to rise sharply some 50 yards distant
from the base of the hillock. From the south-
east end the knoll rises gradually to its north-
west extremity, on which the mote itself has
been erected. With the base-court lying at the
south-east end, the whole construction occu-
pies about half the length of the hillock.
In form the mote is a simple truncated cone,

[Plan Inserted]
FIG. 31. - Mote, Dinning (No.65).

composed, as far as it is possible to tell, of
earth, and rising to a height of some 14 feet
above the level of the base-court, while a steep
gradient with a vertical height of 45 feet
reaches to the base of the hillock on front and
sides. On the terminal slope, some 20 feet
up from the base, is a slight terrace which is
possibly artificial. The plat of the mote has
been circular with a diameter of some 20 feet,
and shows a shallow bowl-shaped hollow, the
wall of which has been slightly broken down
on the north-west. The base-court is oblong
on plan, measuring 66 feet in length by 57
feet in breadth, and is enclosed by an earthen
rampart, somewhat slight on the sides but
massive to the front, which impinges directly
on the sides of the mote hill, uninterrupted by
any intervening trench. The entrance to the
court has been through the centre of the south-
east front.
A trench 34 feet in width, 12 feet in depth
below the crest of the scarp, and some 4 feet
below that of the counterscarp, has been dug
across the hillock from side to side in front
of the rampart. There is no gangway across

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