Earthwork record MAB44648 - CASTLETON OF EASSIE

Earthwork, the site of a castle likely to date from the 12th or 13th centuries AD.

Earthwork, the site of a castle likely to date from the 12th or 13th centuries AD. A rectangular flat topped mound with its entrance causeway in the southeast, and with its two remaining sides bounded by a deep ditch. On the northeast, the ditch was broad, and 3.65 m to 4.27 m deep, with a 91 cm high internal rampart, but shallower to the southeast. The mound measures 89 m by 67 m, the highest section at the southwest end. A house and garden are built on it in the southwest, while on the northwest, there is a steep scarp down to a stream, but no ditch. Some coins of Edward I and a spearhead have been found here. This earthwork is probably medieval, but the ditch measures no less than 15.2 m wide, and would seem to be too substantial for a homestead moat. Probably the work represents a castle site, like Sir John de Graham's castle. Today these remains of a dry medieval 'castle' moat, generally as described by Christison except that the 'rampart' on the northeast is obviously the result of landscaping and the counterscarp on the northeast is mutilated by a modern footpath. The impressive earthworks within which the farmhouse of Castleton of Eassie ( stands are probably the remains of a medieval castle. Test pits in 1990 in a 20 m x 30 m area of the enclosure adjacent to the southwest side of the modern house failed to locate any archaeological features although the pre-19th century ground surface had survived garden landscaping. Coring of the ditch on the southeast side found circa 0.1 m of sediment over sandstone bedrock. It has also been suggested that the mound originated as a crannog. Roy's military map of Scotland depicts Castleton as a loch-side settlement. Castleton House Hotel (NO34NW0047) stands within the earthworks.

, (Photograph). SAB24980.

OSA, 1791-9, [Untitled], Vol. 16, 218-19 (Bibliographic reference). SAB9542.

NSA, 1845, [Untitled], Vol. 11, Forfar, 476 (Bibliographic reference). SAB6197.

Christison, D, 1900, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 34, 53 (Bibliographic reference). SAB8165.

Metcalf, D M, 1977, Brit Archaeol Rep Brit Ser 45, 34, No. 76 (Bibliographic reference). SAB6925.

RCAHMS, 1984, [Untitled], 12, No. 46 (Bibliographic reference). SAB9332.

Stell, G, 1985, [Untitled] (Bibliographic reference). SAB10324.

Carter, S, 1990, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 41 (Bibliographic reference). SAB10746.

STRATIGOS, M J, 2013, THE CRANNOGS OF NORTHEAST SCOTLAND: QUANTIFYING THE RESOURCE. UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON MA DISSERTATION, 76-7 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1743.

Record last edited

Jan 12 2023 3:04PM