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MHG4672 - Motte - Doune, Rothiemurchus

Summary

Motte formed by scarring an esker.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

Motte formed by scarring an esker. Doune placename indicates a possible earlier origin; and the ditch and causeway may be Iron Age or Pictish. The summit may have been landscaped in the 19th century.
The motte guards a crossing of the Spey on a major North-South route, and is historically associated with the Comyns family.
Information from Mr P A Yeoman, 20 January 1992.

The above description places the motte close to the River Spey at Doune but the NGR cited in Scottish Archaeological Review (1983) places the site on a barren N-facing hillside about 5Km to the E. The fort described by T C Welsh at NH 8862 0985 (NH80NE 33) may be the site described by Yeoman.

The earthwork, identified by T C Welsh, may correspond to the motte described by P Yeoman (NH90NW 3) but incorrectly positioned at NH 925 067 (Scottish Archaeological Review 1983). <1>

The fort believed to precede the house known as The Doune lies immediately NE, on top of a SW-NE ridge about 6 m high. Elizabeth Grant in"Memoirs of a Highland Lady" says of it "I never saw the vestige of a ruin there, but the moat is perfect, and two or three steep terraces along the side". In 1803, part of the SW end was quarried away to provide space for servants' quarters and other offices, apparently a level space 30 m deep into the ridge and 40 m wide from the SE side. A ditch and counterscarp bank are preserved along the NW side, carried across the NE end, about 2l m below the summit (fig 7a), but along the SE flank only traces of two terraces remain. Whether the lower is the eroded residual of a continued ditch and bank or both the steep terraces described by Elizabeth Grant is not clear. The summit is 57 m long by up to 18m wide, and is perfectly level to the edge, with a gravelly surface, which may be the result of later landscaping. Two rectangular pits have been dug into this surface in recent times. There are no signs of formal access, which the steepness of the ridge would necessitate, nor of any modification or reworking of the extant defences, so a one-off construction is implied. This may have been a fort used in time of emergency rather than a domestic site. <2>

The feature is visible on SEPA LiDAR data.<3>

Sources/Archives (3)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 8861 0988 (159m by 142m)
Map sheet	NH80NE
Civil Parish	DUTHIL AND ROTHIEMURCHUS
Geographical Area	BADENOCH AND STRATHSPEY

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Investigations/Events (1)

External Links (3)