dumfries-1920/04-229

Transcription

KIRKPATRICK-] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. [-JUXTA.

the wet ground about the north angle but
very distinct in the neighbourhood of the east
corner, where it measures 27 feet in breadth
and 5 feet and 3 feet in depth below scarp and
counterscarp respectively. Along the north-
west it has a breadth of 21 feet and a depth, as
above, of 3 feet and 4 feet respectively. There
is a gap some 9 feet broad in the north-west
face, about 18 feet in from the angle by the
burn, but the large stones cropping out on
the roadway suggest that it is not an original
entrance. Just within the rampart on the east
side are the remains of a stony mound or
cairn, some 20 feet in diameter, which appears
to have been excavated.*
xvi. S.W. 18 September 1912.

397. Mote, Garpol Water. - Some 80 feet
back from the right bank of the Garpol Water,
in the moorland and by the side of the

[Plan inserted]
FIG. 95. - Mote, Garpol Water (No. 397).

road which leads over the hills from Egypt
to Holmshaw, is a prominent flat-topped
hillock, which has been fashioned by art
into a mote and bailey (fig. 3 of Introduc-
tion, and fig. 95). It is oval, lying with its
main axis north-west and south-east, and its
level summit of the same form measures
107 feet by 36 feet in diameter. The level
of the surrounding ground falls towards the
Garpol Water on the north, so that the greatest
elevation of the mote is on that side, its altitude
being 30 feet on the north side and 15 feet on
the south.
Around the base, except where destroyed
by the roadway on the south-east, is a well-
defined trench, having a breadth varying from
22 to 30 feet and a depth at the level of
the counterscarp of from 4 feet to 6 feet 6
inches, except for a short distance at the north-
west where it has a depth of 11 feet before
dropping over the brow to the lower level on
the north. Some 7 feet above the bottom of
the trench, on the south side, is a narrow
terrace about 5 feet in breadth, furnished with
a stony parapet. This terrace continues of
narrow breadth all along the south-west side;
but, after passing round both ends, it broadens
out into a small base-court, shaped like the
human ear, which forms a projecting shoulder
towards the north-east. The length of this
base-court is 117 feet and its breadth at
centre 36 feet. At its south-east end its
floor lies at a level some 2 to 3 feet below
the north-west portion and is further pro-
tected at its edge by a parapet mound. Above
the base-court and the terrace the summit
eminence rises to a height of 17 feet and
8 feet respectively. Like a true mote-hill
it shows no pathway leading to the summit;
but across the trench, at the north-west end,
where there is a sudden change in levels,
there appears to have been a gangway leading
by a steep path into the base-court. Where
the trench passes along the north-east face,
over the low ground by the burn, an outer
mound, some 3 feet in height, forms the
counterscarp, through which, near the centre,
where the ground is lowest in level and wet,
there is a gap some 30 feet wide.
xvi. S.W. 18 September 1912.

398. Fort, Beattock Hill. - [Note] 3 Occupying the
summit of a bluff which projects from the
eastern slope of Beattock Hill, at an elevation
of some 550 feet above sea-level, is a pear-
shaped enclosure, lying with its longest axis
south-west to north-east and having its
narrower extremity towards the rising slope
of the hill on the south-west. It measures
interiorly 133 feet by 70 feet across the centre,

* In a communication to the Proceedings of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1886, vol. xx.
pp. 331-5, the writer refers to this mound as a
circular building, partially destroyed, with com-
paratively thin walls. Its character is not now
apparent on superficial examination.

[Page] 137

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