dumfries-1920/04-208

Transcription

JOHNSTONE.] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. [JOHNSTONE.

317. Mound behind Lochwood Tower. - To
the south of the ruins of Lochwood Tower lies
a green level meadow, probably the garden,
and near its centre there rises an artificial-
looking earthen mound surmounted by four
ancient gean trees, some 9 feet in height with
a diameter at base of 36 to 40 feet, fallen away
somewhat towards the east, and measuring
across its level circular summit some 10 feet.
Around its base is a shallow trench with a width
of 12 feet. This mound in character and situa-
tion bears a resemblance to that which rises
from the centre of the garden at Logan in Gallo-
way, similarly within sight of the old castle.
xxiv. S.E. (unnoted). 14 September 1912.

318. Fort, Mote Cottage. - On the east bank
of Kinnell Water, about 1/4 mile east by
south of the farm of Ross Mains, rises a grassy
hillock marked as a mote on the O.S. map.
It is a natural gravel mound, lying with its
longest axis north and south, with an eleva-
tion rising from 18 feet at the north end to
26 feet at the south, steeply sloped on the
north and west and falling by an easier
gradient to its base on the south and east.
The ground around is low-lying meadow land;
and, while the Kinnell Water at the present
day flows by some 150 yards to the westward,
an old channel marked by pools of stagnant
water lies at its base.
The summit has been surrounded by a
bank of earth and stone enclosing an area
measuring some 100 feet by 40 feet. It
slopes from west to east as well as from north
to south, and at no point has been levelled,
as would be the case in a mote-hill. At the
lowest point on the east side, towards the north
end, there is an entrance 8 feet wide approached
up the slope from the base; and on the right
of it, against the bank, there appears to be an
oblong foundation, probably of turf, at the
east end of which, at a level some 5 feet lower,
is a circular hollow dug out of the face of the
bank, measuring 11 feet in diameter. On the
highest point of the hillock, in the line of the
enclosing bank, is a small oblong depression
measuring superficially 7 feet 6 inches by
5 feet 6 inches and sunk some 2 feet below
the surface; while on the east edge, also on
the line of the mound, is another hollow, which
may mark the site of a hut.
xlii. N.E. (" Mote "). 8 August 1912.

319. Fort (remains), Kirkhill Cottage. - This
cottage, in an angle between two roads about
1 mile to the north of Johnstone Church,
apparently occupies the site of a fort, of which
a small portion of a rampart remains on the
north.
xxxiii. N.E. 14 August 1912.

320. Fort, Tanner's Linn, Mollin. - This is
a small semi-oval fort about 1/2 mile south-
east of the farm of Mollin, the oval bisected
obliquely, and in its periphery, exclusive of the
chord, presenting four distinct facets of vary-
ing dimensions. It rests on the edge of the
precipitous left bank of the Linn, which flows
through a wooded ravine some 50 feet below.
The main axis of the oval, if complete,
would have been north and south, and the
basal line of the fort lies from north-east to
south-west, measuring 93 feet in the latter
direction from crest to crest with a bisectional
diameter of 60 feet.
The defences consist of an inner rampart
of earth and stone, a deep regularly formed
concentric trench, and an outer rampart.
The inner mound has an elevation of some
5 feet above the portion of the interior directly
behind it, and has a scarp at the highest
point of 7 to 8 feet in height above the floor
of the trench, but along the north-east arc of
only some 3 feet 6 inches: the trench from
crest to crest measures 30 feet, except on the
north-east face, where it measures 25 feet,
and has a depth below the counterscarp of
7 feet where deepest, near the centre of the
curve on the north, and diminishes in depth
towards the edge of the ravine at either end.
At either extremity the outer rampart has a
height of from 5 to 6 feet on the exterior,
where the ground level declines to the edge
of the ravine. There is much stone at places
in the interior, especially at the north-east
end, but no distinct foundation is traceable.
The entrance has probably been from the
north-east, past the end of the rampart, and
flanked by the precipitous side of the linn -
an arrangement frequently observed in this
class of fort. From the west there is a slight
filling of the trench, to form a gangway to
the interior; and thence southward to the edge
of the ravine the inner rampart has an eleva-
tion some 2 to 3 feet lower than to north-

[Page] 117

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