MOTTE-CASTLES IN SCOTLAND
The Scottish historians of the 19th century have amply recognised the
Anglo-Norman occupation of Scotland, which took place in the 11th and
12th centuries, ever since its extent and importance were demonstrated
by Chalmers in his _Caledonia_. Occupation is not too strong a word to
use, although it was an occupation about which history is strangely
silent, and which seems to have provoked little resistance except in
the Keltic parts of the country. But it meant the transformation of
Scotland from a tribal Keltic kingdom into an organised feudal state,
and in the accomplishment of this transformation the greater part of
the best lands in Scotland passed into the hands of English refugees or
Norman and Flemish adventurers.
The movement began in the days of Malcolm Canmore, when his English
queen, the sainted Margaret, undoubtedly favoured the reception
of English refugees of noble birth, some of whom were her own
relations.[1000] Very soon, the English refugees were followed by
Norman refugees, who had either fallen under the displeasure of the
king of England, like the Montgomeries, or were the cadets of some
Norman family, wishful to carve out fresh fortunes for themselves, like
the Fitz Alans, the ancestors of the Stuarts. The immigration continued
during the reign of the sons of Margaret, but seems to have reached its
culminating point under David I. (1124-1153).
David, as Burton remarks, had lived for sixteen years as an affluent
Anglo-Norman noble, before his accession to the Scottish crown, being
Earl of Huntingdon in right of his wife, the daughter of Simon de
Senlis, and granddaughter, through her mother, of Earl Waltheof.
David's tastes and sympathies were Norman, but it was not taste
alone which impelled him to build up in Scotland a monarchy of the
Anglo-Norman feudal type. He had a distinct policy to accomplish; he
wished to do for Scotland what Edward I. sought to do for the whole
island, to unite its various nationalities under one government, and
he saw that men of the Anglo-Norman type would be the best instruments
of this policy.[1001] It mattered little to him from what nation he
chose his followers, if they were men who accepted his ideas. Norman,
English, Flemish, or Norse adventurers were all received at his
court, and endowed with lands in Scotland, if they were men suitable
for working the system which he knew to be the only one available
for the accomplishment of his policy. And that system was the feudal
system. He saw that feudalism meant a higher state of civilisation
than the tribalism of Keltic Scotland, and that only by the complete
organisation of feudalism could he carry out the unification of
Scotland, and the subjugation of the wild Keltic tribes of the north
and west.[1002]
The policy was successful, though it was not completely carried out
until Alexander III. purchased the kingdom of the Isles from the King
of Norway in 1266. The sons of David, Malcolm IV., and William the Lion
were strong men who doughtily continued the subjugation of the Keltic
parts of Scotland, and distributed the lands of the conquered among
their Norman or Normanised followers. The struggle was a severe one;
again and again did the North rebel against the yoke of the House of
Malcolm. In Moray the Keltic inhabitants were actually driven out by
Malcolm IV., and the country colonised by Normans or Flemings.[1003]
The same Malcolm led no less than three expeditions against Galloway,
where in spite of extensive Norse settlements on the coast, the mass of
the inhabitants appear to have been Keltic.[1004]
We know very little about the details of this remarkable revolution,
because Scotland had no voice in the 12th century, none of her
chroniclers being earlier than the end of the 14th century. As regards
the subject which concerns this book, the building of castles, there
are only one or two passages which lift the veil. A contemporary
English chronicler, Ailred of Rievaulx, in his panegyric of David I.,
says that David decorated Scotland with castles and cities.[1005] In
like manner Benedict of Peterborough tells us that when William the
Lion was captured by Henry II.'s forces in 1174, the men of Galloway
took the opportunity to destroy all the castles which the king had
built in their country, expelling his seneschals and guards, and
killing all the English and French whom they could catch.[1006] Fordun
casually mentions the building of two castles in Ross by William the
Lion; and once he gives us an anecdote which is a chance revelation
of what must have been going on everywhere. A certain English knight,
Robert, son of Godwin, whose Norman name shows that he was one of the
Normanised English, tarried with the king's leave on an estate which
King Edgar had given him in Lothian, _and while he was seeking to build
a castle there_, he was attacked by the men of Bishop Ranulf of Durham,
who objected to a castle being built so near the English frontier.[1007]
But even if historians had been entirely silent about the building of
castles in Scotland, we should have been certain that it must have
happened, as an inevitable part of the Norman settlement. Robertson
remarks that the Scots in the time of David I. were still a pastoral
and in some respects a migratory people, their magnates not residing
like great feudal nobles in their own castles, but moving about
from place to place, and quartering themselves upon the dependent
population. There is in fact no reason for supposing that the Keltic
chiefs of Scotland built castles, any more than those of Wales or
Ireland.[1008] But the feudal system must very soon have covered
Scotland with castles.
The absence of any stone castles of Norman type has puzzled Scottish
historians, whose ideas of castles were associated with buildings in
stone.[1009] In 1898 Dr Christison published his valuable researches
into the _Early Fortifications of Scotland_, in which for the first
time an estimate was attempted of the distribution of Scottish
_motes_,[1010] and their Norman origin almost, if not quite, suspected.
His book was quickly followed by Mr George Neilson's noteworthy paper
on the "Motes in Norman Scotland,"[1011] in which he showed that the
wooden castle is the key which unlocks the historians' puzzle, and that
the motes of Scotland are nothing but the evidence of the Norman feudal
settlement.
Two important points urged in Mr Neilson's paper are the feudal and
legal connection of these motes. He has given a list of mottes which
are known to have been the site of the "chief messuages" of baronies
in the 13th and 14th centuries, and has collected the names of a great
number which were seats of justice, or places where "saisine" of a
barony was taken, not because they were moot-hills, but because the
administration of justice remained fixed in the ancient site of the
baron's castle. "The doctrine of the chief messuage, which became of
large importance in peerage law, made it at times of moment to have on
distinct record the nomination of what the chief messuage was, often
for the imperative function of taking _sasine_. In many instances the
_caput baroniæ_, or the court or place for the ceremonial entry to
possession, is the 'moit,' the 'mothill,' the 'auld castell,' the 'auld
wark,' the 'castellsteid,' the 'auld castellsteid,' the 'courthill,'
or in Latin _mons placiti_, _mons viridis_, or _mons castri_."[1012]
In certain places where two mottes are to be found, he was able to
prove that two baronies had once had their seats. Another point which
Mr Neilson worked out is the relation of bordlands to mottes. Bordland
or borland, though an English word, is not pre-Conquest; it refers
to "that species of demesne which the lord reserves for the supply
of his own table." It is constantly found in the near proximity of
mottes.[1013]
The following is a list of thirty-eight Anglo-Norman or Normanised
adventurers settled in Scotland, on whose lands mottes are to be found.
The list must be regarded as a tentative one, for had all the names
given by Chalmers been included, it would have been more than doubled.
But the difficulties of obtaining topographical information were so
great that it has been judged expedient to give only the names of those
families who are known to have held lands, and in most cases to have
had their principal residences, in places where mottes are or formerly
were existing.[1014]
ANSTRUTHER.--William de Candela obtained the lands of Anstruther, in
Fife, from David I. His descendants took the surname of Anstruther. The
"Mothlaw" of Anstruther is mentioned in 1590.[1015] "At the W. end of
the town there is a large mound, called the Chester Hill, in the middle
of which is a fine well." (N. S. A., 1845.) The well is an absolute
proof that this was the site of a castle.
AVENEL.--Walter de Avenel held Abercorn Castle and estate, in
Linlithgow, in the middle of the 12th century. The castle stood on a
green mound (N. S. A.) which is clearly marked in the O.M.
BALLIOL.--The De Bailleul family had their seat at Barnard Castle, in
Durham, after the Conquest. They obtained lands in Galloway from David
I., and had strongholds at Buittle, and Kenmure, in Kirkcudbright. At
Buittle the site of the castle exists, a roughly triangular bailey with
a motte at one corner;[1016] and at Kenmure the O.M. clearly shows a
motte, as does the picture in Grose's _Antiquities of Scotland_. The
terraces probably date from the time when the modern house on top was
built.
BARCLAY.--The De Berkeleys sprang from the De Berkeleys of England,
and settled in Scotland in the 12th century. Walter de Berkeley was
Chamberlain of Scotland in 1165; William the Lion gave him the manor
of Inverkeilor, in Forfarshire; there he built a castle, on Lunan Bay.
"An artificial mound on the west side of the bay, called the Corbie's
Knowe, bears evident marks of having been a castle long previous to
the erection of Redcastle." (N. S. A.) The family also had lands in
what is now Aberdeenshire, and at Towie, in the parish of Auchterless,
they had a castle. "Close to the church of Auchterless there is a small
artificial eminence of an oval shape, surrounded by a ditch, which is
now in many places filled up. It still retains the name of the Moat
Head, and was formerly the seat of the baronial court." (N. S. A.; N.;
C.)
BRUCE.--The De Brus held lands in North Yorkshire at the time of
the Domesday Survey. David I. gave them the barony of Annan, in
Dumfriesshire. The original charter of this grant still exists in the
British Museum, witnessed by a galaxy of Norman names.[1017] Their
chief castles were at Annan and Lochmaben. At Annan, near the site of
a later castle, there is still a motte about 50 feet high, with a vast
ditch and some traces of a bailey (N.), called the Moat (N. S. A.). The
"terras de Moit et Bailyis, intra le Northgate," are mentioned in 1582.
South of the town of Lochmaben, on the N.W. side of the loch, is a fine
motte called Castle Hill, with some remains of masonry, which is still
pointed out as the original castle of the Bruces.[1018] (G.) The fine
motte and bailey at Moffat must also have been one of their castles, as
Moffat was one of their demesne lands. (Fig. 44.)
CATHCART.--Name territorial. Rainald de Cathcart witnesses a charter
(in the Paisley Register) in 1179. Near the old castle of Cathcart,
Lanark, is "an eminence called Court Knowe." (N. S. A.) As Mr Neilson
has shown, these court knowes and court hills are generally disused
mottes. The name Rainald is clearly Norman.
CHEYNE.--This family is first known in 1258, but had then been long
settled in Scotland, and were hereditary sheriffs of Banffshire.
Chalmers only mentions their manor of Inverugie, in Aberdeenshire.
Behind the ruins of Inverugie Castle rises a round flat-topped hill,
which was the Castle Hill or Mote Hill of former days. (N. S. A.)
COLVILLE.--Appears in Scotland in the reign of Malcolm IV., holding
the manors of Heton and Oxnam, in Roxburgh. About 1/4 mile from Oxnam
(which was a barony) is a moated mound called Galla Knowe. (O.M., C.,
and N.) Hailes identified the castle in Teviotdale, captured and burnt
by Balliol in 1333, with that of Oxnam.[1019] Le Mote de Oxnam is
mentioned in 1424 (N.).
[Illustration: FIG. 44.--SCOTTISH MOTTE-CASTLES. Annan. Moffat. Duffus.
Liddesdale.]
CUMYN, or COMYN.--The first of this family came to Scotland as the
chancellor of David I.[1020] First seated at Linton Roderick, in
Roxburghshire, where there is a rising ground, surrounded formerly
by a foss, the site of the original castle; (G.) a description
which seems to suggest a motte. William the Lion gave the Cumyns
Kirkintilloch in Dumbarton, and we afterwards find them at Dalswinton
in Dumfriesshire, and Troqueer in Kirkcudbright. At Kirkintilloch the
O.M. shows a square mount concentrically placed in a square enceinte.
The enclosure was apparently one of the forts on the wall of Agricola,
but the writer on Kirkintilloch in the N. S. A. suspected that it had
been transformed into a castle by the Cumyns. At Dalswinton the O.M.
shows a motte, and calls it the "site of Cumyn's Castle." At Troqueer,
"directly opposite the spot on the other side the river where Cumyn's
Castle formerly stood is a mote of circular form and considerable
height." (N. S. A.) The Cumyn who held Kirkintilloch in 1201, was made
Earl of Buchan, and held the vast district of Badenoch, or the great
valley of the Spey. The N. S. A. gives many descriptions of remains
in this region which are suggestive of motte-castles; we can only
name the most striking: Ruthven, "a castle reared by the Comyns on a
green conical mound on the S. bank of the Spey, thought to be partly
artificial," now occupied by ruined barracks; Dunmullie, in the parish
of Duthill, where "there can be traced vestiges of a motte surrounded
by a ditch, on which, according to tradition, stood the castle of the
early lords"; Crimond, where Cumyn had a castle, and where there is
a small round hill called Castle Hill; and Ellon, where the Earl of
Buchan had his head court, on a small hill which has now disappeared,
but which was anciently known as the moot-hill of Ellon. Saisin of the
earldom was given on this hill in 1476. (N. S. A.)
CUNNINGHAM.--Warnebald, who came from the north of England, was a
follower of the Norman, Hugh de Morville, who gave him the lands of
Cunningham, in Ayrshire, from which the family name was taken. In the
parish of Kilmaurs, which is in the district of Cunningham, there is a
"mote," which may have been the castle of Warnebald; at any rate the
original manor place of Cunningham was in this parish. It is of course
possible that this motte may have been originally a De Morville castle.
DOUGLAS.--Name territorial; progenitor was a Fleming, who received
lands on the Douglas water, in Lanark, in the middle of the 12th
century. In the park of Douglas, to the east of the modern castle, is
a mound called Boncastle, but we are unable to state certainly that it
is a motte. Lag Castle, in the parish of Dunscore, "has a moat or court
hill a little to the east." (N. S. A.: shown in Grose's picture.) It
must have been originally Douglas land, as in 1408 it was held by an
armour-bearer of Douglas.
DURAND.--Clearly a Norman name, corrupted into Durham. The family were
seated at Kirkpatrick Durham in the 13th century. There is or was a
motte at Kirkpatrick.[1021]
DURWARD.--This family was descended from Alan de Lundin, who was
dur-ward or door-keeper to the king about 1233. They possessed a wide
domain in Aberdeenshire, and had a castle at Lumphanan, where Edward I.
stayed in 1296. There is a round motte in the Peel Bog at Lumphanan,
surrounded by a moat, which was fed by a sluice from the neighbouring
burn. There were ruins in masonry on the top some hundred years ago.
The writer of the N. S. A. account of this place, with remarkable
shrewdness, conjectures that a wooden castle on this mound was the
ancient residence of the Durwards, superseded in the 15th century by
a building of stone, and that it has nothing to do with Macbeth, whose
burial-place is said to be a cairn in the neighbourhood.[1022]
FITZ ALAN.--This is the well-known ancestor of the House of Stuart,
Walter, a cadet of a great Norman family in Shropshire, who is said to
have obtained lands in Scotland in Malcolm Canmore's time. Renfrew was
one of his seats, and Inverwick, in Haddington, another. Renfrew Castle
is entirely destroyed, but the description of the site, on a small
hill, ditched round, called Castle Hill, strongly suggests a motte. The
keep of Inverwick stands on a natural motte of rock.[1023] Dunoon was
one of their castles, near to which "stood the Tom-a-mhoid, or Hill of
the court of justice" (G.), possibly an ancient motte.[1024] Dunoon
Castle, however, itself stands on a motte, partly artificial and partly
carved out of a headland. (N.)
FLEMING.--There were many Flemings among the followers of David I., and
eventually the name stuck to their descendants as a surname. Baldwin
the Fleming obtained lands at Biggar, in Lanarkshire. There is a motte
at the west end of the town of Biggar, 36 feet high. Biggar was the
head of a barony. (N. S. A. and N.) Colban the Fleming settled at
Colbantown, now Covington, Lanarkshire, where there is a motte (N.).
Robert the Fleming has left a well-preserved oblong motte at Roberton,
in Lanark, which was a barony, and where the _moit_ was spoken of in
1608. (N.)
GRAHAM.--Came from England under David I., and received lands in
Lothian. A Graham was lord of Tarbolton, in Ayrshire, in 1335, so it
is possible that the motte at that place, on which stood formerly the
chief messuage of the barony of Tarbolton, was one of their castles (N.
S. A.), but it may have been older.
HAMILTON.--It is not certain that the Hamiltons came to Scotland before
1272. King Robert I. gave them the barony of Cadzow, Lanark, which had
originally been a royal seat. In Hamilton Park there is a mote hill,
which was the site of the chief messuage of this barony (N.). It was
formerly surrounded by the town of Hamilton. (N. S. A.) It is of course
possible that this motte may be much older than the Hamiltons, as the
site of an originally royal castle.
HAY.--First appears in the 12th century, as butler to Malcolm IV. The
family first settled in Lothian, where they had lands at Lochorworth.
The Borthwick family, who got this estate by marriage, obtained a
license from James I. about 1430 to build a castle "on the mote of
Locherwart," and to this castle they gave their own name. (N. S. A.)
No doubt it was the original motte of the Hays. King William gave the
Hays the manor of Errol, in Perthshire, which was made into a barony.
Here is or was the mote of Errol, "a round artificial mound about 20
feet high, and 30 feet in diameter at the top; the platform at the top
surrounded with a low turf wall, and the whole enclosed with a turf
wall at the base, in the form of an equilateral triangle." (N. S. A.;
evidently a triangular bailey.) It is called the Law Knoll, and is
spoken of as a _fortalicium_ in 1546. (N.)
LENNOX.--The earls of Lennox are descended from Arkel, an Englishman,
who received from Malcolm Canmore lands in Dumbartonshire. At Catter,
near the Earl's castle, is a large artificial mound.[1025]
LOCKHART.--Stevenston, in Ayrshire, takes its name from Stephen
Loccard, and Symington, in Lanark, from his son (?), Simon Loccard.
At Stevenson there was formerly a castle, and there still (1845) is
a Castle Hill. Stevenston was given by Richard Morville to Stephen
Loccard about 1170. (N. S. A.) At Symington there was formerly a round
mound, called Law Hill, at the foot of the village, but it has been
levelled. (N. S. A.)
LOGAN.--A Robert Logan witnesses a charter of William the Lion, and
appears later as Dominus Robertus de Logan. The name Robert shows his
Norman origin. At Drumore, near Logan (parish of Kirkmaiden, Wigton),
there was a castle, and there is still a court hill or mote.[1026]
Another mote, at Myroch, in the same parish, is mentioned by Mr Neilson
as the site of the chief messuage of the barony of Logan.
LOVEL.--Settled at Hawick, Roxburghshire. The mote of Hawick, from the
picture in Scott's _Border Antiquities_, seems to be a particularly
fine one. Hawick was a barony, and Le Moit is mentioned in 1511. (N.)
LYLE, or LISLE.--The castle of this Norman family was at Duchal,
Renfrewshire. The plan is clearly that of a motte and bailey, but the
motte is of natural rock.[1027]
MALE, now MELVILLE.--Settled in Haddingtonshire under David I., and
called their seat Melville. Melville Castle is modern. They afterwards
obtained by marriage lands on the Bervie River, in the Mearns. Dr
Christison's map shows a motte near the mouth of the Bervie.
MAXWELL.--Maccus, son of Unwin[1028] (evidently of Scandinavian
origin), received lands on the Tweed from David I., and called his seat
Maccusville, corrupted into Maxwell. There is a motte at Maxwell, near
Kelso. (N.) Maxton, in Roxburghshire, takes its name from him, and
there is a motte called Ringley Hall, on the Tweed, in this parish. (C.
and N. S. A.)
MONTALT, or MOWAT.--Robert de Montalto (Mold, in Flintshire) witnesses
a charter of David I. The family settled in Cromarty. Le Mote at
Cromarty is mentioned in 1470. (N.)
MONTGOMERY.--This family is undoubtedly descended from some one of the
sons of the great Earl Roger of Shrewsbury, settled in Scotland after
the ruin of his family in England. Robert de Montgomerie received
the manor of Eaglesham, Renfrew, from Fitz Alan, the High Steward of
Scotland. The principal messuage of this manor was at Polnoon, 1/2
mile S.E. of Eaglesham. Here Sir John Montgomerie built the castle of
Polnoon about 1388. (N. S. A.) The O.M. seems to show that the ruins
of this castle stand on a motte, probably the original castle of
Montgomerie.
MORVILLE.--Hugh de Morville was a Northamptonshire baron, the life-long
friend of David I.[1029] He founded one of the most powerful families
in the south of Scotland, though after three generations their lands
passed to heiresses, and their chief seat is not even known by name.
But Mr Neilson states that Darnhall, in Peebles, was the head of their
"Black Barony," and that there is a motte there. As Hugh de Morville
gave the church of Borgue to Dryburgh Abbey about 1150, it is probable
that the motte at Boreland of Borgue was one of his castles. The
barony of Beith, in Ayr, given by Richard de Morville to the Abbey of
Kilwinning, has also a motte, which may be reckoned to be the site of
a De Morville castle. Largs, in Ayr, belonged to the De Morvilles, and
has a Castle Hill near the village, which appears to be a motte. (G.)
MOWBRAY.--This well-known Norman family also sent a branch to Scotland.
Amongst other places, about which we have no details, they held
Eckford, in Roxburghshire. In this parish, near the ancient mansion,
is an artificial mount called Haughhead Kipp. (N. S. A.) This seems a
possible motte, but its features are not described.
MURRAY.--Freskin the Fleming came to Scotland under David I., and
received from that king lands in Moray. He built himself a castle
at Duffus, in Elgin, which is on the motte-and-bailey plan.[1030]
The stone keep now on the motte appears to be of the 14th century.
Freskin's posterity took the name of De Moravia, or Moray. (Fig. 44.)
OLIPHANT, or OLIFARD.--Cambuslang, in Lanark, belonged to Walter
Olifard, Justiciary of Lothian in the time of Alexander II. About a
mile E. of the church is a circular mound 20 feet high. It was here
that the Oliphants' castle of Drumsagard formerly stood. (N. S. A.)
Drumsagard was a barony. (N.)
DE QUINCY.--Obtained from William the Lion the manors of Travernant, in
East Lothian, and Leuchars, in Fife. Near the village of Leuchars is
a motte with some slight remains of a stone keep, a deep well in the
centre, and an entrenched bailey, known as the site of the castle of
Leuchars.[1031]
ROSS.--Godfrey de Ros, a vassal of Richard de Morville, held of him the
lands of Stewarton, in Ayr. The _caput_ of the lordship was Castletown,
where Le Mote is spoken of in 1451 (N. and C.). The De Ros were also
the first lords of the barony of Sanquhar. A little lower down the
river Nith than the later castle of Sanquhar is a mote called Ryehill,
and a place anciently manorial. (N.)
SOMERVILLE.--William de Somerville was a Norman to whom David I.
gave the manor of Carnwath, in Lanarkshire. There is a very perfect
entrenched motte at Carnwath (N. S. A. and O.M.), and Le Moit de
Carnwath is mentioned in 1599. (N.)
DE SOULIS.--Followed David I. from Northamptonshire into Scotland, and
received Liddesdale, in Roxburghshire, from him. The motte and bailey
of his original castle still remain, very near the more celebrated but
much later Hermitage Castle.[1032] (Fig. 44.)
VALOIGNES.--Philip de Valoignes and his son William were each
successively chamberlains of Scotland.[1033] One of their estates was
Easter Kilbride, in Lanarkshire, where they had a castle. In this
parish is an artificial mount of earth, with an oval area on top, about
1/4 mile from the present house of Torrance. (N. S. A.)
VAUX, or DE VALLIBUS.--Settled in Scotland under William the Lion. Held
the manors of Dirleton and Golyn, in East Lothian. Dirleton has been
transformed into an Edwardian castle, but from the pictures it appears
to stand on a natural motte of rock. But about 3 miles from Dirleton
the O.M. shows a large motte called Castle Hill, which may possibly be
the original castle of the De Vaux.
WALLACE, or WALLENSIS.--Richard Walensis was the first of this family,
and acquired lands in Ayrshire in David I.'s time. He named his seat
Riccardton, after himself, and the remains of his motte are still
there, a small oval motte called Castle Hill, on which the church of
Riccarton now stands, but which is recognised as having been a "mote
hill." (G.)
To this list must be added a number of royal castles known to have been
built in the 12th century, which, as they were built on mottes, must in
the first instance have been wooden castles.
BANFF.--It seems clear that Banff Castle had a motte, because the
doggerel rhymes of Arthur Johnstone in 1642 say:
A place was near which was a field until
Our ancestors did raise it to a hill;
A stately castle also on it stood.
The _Gazetteer_ says: "The citadel occupied a mount, originally at the
end though now near the middle of the town." The site is still called
Castle Hill. (N. S. A.)
CRAIL, Fife.--The O.M. does not show a motte here. The N. S. A. says
"there was a royal residence here, upon an eminence overlooking the
harbour." That this "eminence" was a motte seems clear from the
_Register of the Great Seal_, quoted by Mr Neilson, which speaks of "Le
Moitt olim Castrum" in 1573.
CUPAR.--There seem to be two mottes here, both raised on a natural
"esker"; the one formerly called the Castle Hill is now called the
School Hill, the school having been built upon it. The other and higher
hill is called the Moot Hill, and is said to be the place where the
earls of Fife used to dispense justice. (N. S. A.) Mr Neilson states
that both are mentioned in the _Registrum_.
DUMFRIES.--Here there were two mottes, one being now the site of a
church, the other, called Castle Dykes, a short distance S. of the
town, on the opposite side of the river. Both no doubt were royal
castles, and Mr Neilson has suggested that as an _old castlestead_
is spoken of in a charter of William the Lion, it implies that a new
castle had recently been built, possibly after the great destruction of
the royal castles in Galloway in 1174.[1034] The Castle Dykes appears
to be the later castle, as it is spoken of in the 16th century. (N.)
DUNSKEATH, Cromarty.--Built by William the Lion in 1179. The castle is
built on a small _moat_ overhanging the sea. (G.)
ELGIN.--Built by William the Lion on a small green hill called Lady
Hill, with conical and precipitous sides. (N. S. A. and G.)
FORFAR.--"The castle stood on a round hill to the N. of the town, and
must have been surrounded by water." (N. S. A.) It was destroyed in
1307. It is called Gallow Hill in the O.M., and is now occupied by
gasworks.
FORRES.--The plan in Chalmers' _Caledonia_ clearly shows a motte, to
which the town appears to have formed a bailey.
INVERNESS.--Built by David I. when he annexed Moray. The site is now
occupied by a gaol, but the O.M. shows it to have been a motte, which
is clearly depicted in old engravings.
INNERMESSAN.--As the lands here appear to have been royal property as
late as the time of David II., the large round motte here may have been
an early royal castle, a conjecture which finds some confirmation in
the name "Boreland of Kingston," which Pont places in the same parish.
(N. S. A.)
JEDBURGH.--Probably built by David I. The site, which is still
called Castle Hill, has been levelled and completely obliterated by
the building of a gaol. Yet an old plan of the town in 1762, in the
possession of the late Mr Laidlaw of Jedburgh, shows the outline of the
castle to have been exactly that of a motte and bailey, though, as no
hachures are given, it is not absolutely convincing.
KINCLEVEN, Perth.--The O.M. shows no earthworks connected with the
present castle, but on the opposite side of the river it places a motte
called Castle Hill, which may very likely be the site of the original
castle.
KIRKCUDBRIGHT.--Dr Christison marks a motte here, to the W. of the
town. The place is called Castle Dykes. Mr Coles says it has an oblong
central mound and a much larger entrenched area.[1035]
LANARK.--Ascribed traditionally to David I. "On a small artificially
shaped hill between the town and the river, at the foot of the street
called Castle Gate, and still bearing the name of Castle Hill, there
stood in former times beyond all doubt a royal castle." (N. S. A.) Mr
Neilson says, "It certainly bears out its reputation as an artificial
mound."
ROSEMARKIE, Cromarty.--Was made a royal burgh by Alexander II., so the
castle must have been originally royal. "Immediately above the town is
a mound of nearly circular form, and level on the top, which seems to
be artificial, and has always been called the Court Hill." (N. S. A.)
Even if we had no other evidence that motte-castles were of Norman
construction, this list would be very significant. But taken in
connection with the evidence for the Norman origin of the English,
Welsh, and Irish mottes, it supplies ample proof that in Scotland, as
elsewhere, the Norman and feudal settlement had its material guarantees
in the castles which were planted all over the land, and that these
castles were the simple structures of earth and wood, whose earthen
remains have been the cause of so much mystification.