(1) EARTHWORKS WITH SOME STRUCTURAL RESEMBLANCE TO MILITARY MOTES, OR WITH MOTE OR MOAT MARKED AT THEM ON THE O.M.

I have placed together all the works with the term Moat or Mote attached to them on the O.M. Unfortunately the term is there used in various senses, but by favour of Colonel D. A. Johnston, R.E., Director of the Survey, I am enabled to state in the following paragraphs in which cases it designates a mound, and in which merely a trench connected with a fort. The information, however, came too late to enable me to recast this unsatisfactory subdivision. In the present revision of the maps, the distinction between Mote, a military, generally circular eminence, and Moat, a trench, is to be observed, and neither term is to be used for an ordinary mound. It is questionable whether in any case in the district the term is traditional and local, or whether any of these works have been military motes. Most of them, as far as structure goes, have nearly an equal claim to the title of mote or fort.

2. Inchbrakie.-On a level field 2 m. E. of Crieff, in the grounds of Abercairney, 150 ft. above the sea, is this puzzling structure. Mout marked on it on the O.M., as shown in fig. 2, signifies the surrounding trench, which with its appurtenances is so drawn there as to be not quite intelligible; I have therefore, while adopting the form and dimensions of the Ordnance Plan, represented the enclosing trench, etc., so as to correspond with my section A B, which is given on a larger scale.

In form the work is a long, pretty regular oval, rather broader at the E. than the W. end, and the dimensions over all are nearly 900 by 350 ft. The structure rises gradually into a much-flattened dome, not more than 25 ft. above the level of the surrounding park, but it is pretty steeply scarped for a perpendicular height of 6 to 8 ft. down to the trench, which is only 3 ft. wide and is bounded outside by a mound 18 ft. across and 3 to 4 ft. high above both the trench and the field, so that the trench is not a dug out trench as far as appearances go. An entrance, much modernised, 30 ft. wide, comes in from the N. near the W. end, and at that part there seems to have been some levelling of the interior. Here and there a slight indication of a parapet may be seen at the top of the scarp.

Of the 'Castle of Inchbrakie' not a trace is to be seen, but the neglected fine old trees and dense undergrowth make a proper examination difficult. On the whole it seems not unlikely that this may have been a Mote of unusual form and size, on which a medieval castle was afterwards built.

3. Moat, the Law, are the names given on the O.M. to a mound, 14 m. S.E. of Dunnichen Church and 500 yds. S. of Idvies House. It is situated 464 ft. above the sea, on the summit of a broad flat elevation or ridge, commanding an extensive view. The mound rises 12 to 15 ft. above the field, and is very conspicuous with its steep green sides crowned with trees. It has a slightly domed top only 18 ft. in diameter, green like the slopes, but with a small heap of stones on the top. The slope falls on a retaining stone wall 4 ft. high which girths the foot with a circumference of 280 ft. There is no sign of a trench, and the term Moat (mote) was adopted on the Ordnance Plan for the very unsatisfactory reason that criminals were said to have been executed on it. The small rounded top seems ill adapted to the use of the work as a Mote. 300 yds. N.E. of it is the "site of Idvies Church," with no remains.

Figs. 1 to 11. Earthworks in Perth, Angus, and Mearns.

100

B

100

200 Ft

4. Moat, Gallows Law (fig. 3), is the next example, 3 m. E.N.E. from the last,m. N. of Gardyne Castle, m. S.S.E. of Guthrie Church, and about 200 ft. above the sea. It is conspicuously placed at the very W. end of a singular, narrow, artificial-looking but natural ridge which runs E. and W. on a field sloping gently from S. to N. This mound rises gradually from the E., with a gently-rounded crest and steep sides, 15 to 25 ft. high on the S. and 30 to 45 on the N. On nearing the W. end, after

a course of 70 yds., a trench cuts off the mote, which rises 8 ft. above the trench, has a flat top, 27 by 18 ft., and falls steeply about 20 feet to the S. and 40 to the N., upon the field. The W. face is quarried away (at b on the plan and section) and shows nothing but sand and rolled pebbles from top to bottom. The name Gallows Law seems not inappropriate, from the following abbreviated reference in the O.S. account: "Two artificial conical mounds called laws exist at Idvie and Gardyne. An old man told Thomas

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Lyel that he saw two Highlanders taken with stolen cattle, judged, condemned, and hanged on the Law of Gardyne" (early in the eighteenth century), but this is no reason for calling it also a Moat (Mote).

5. Passing now to the high tableland upon which the high road from Forfar to Brechin runs, we come on the Mote of Melgund of the O.M., the only instance, within our review, of the spelling mote in place of moat. The site is 13 m N.E. of Aberlemno Church on the broad summit of Angus Hill, 451 ft. above the sea. It is represented on the O.M. as a very small, shapeless mound, and was probably then undergoing a gradual destruction, which seems to be now complete, as I could find no trace of it on the site in a field then under turnips.

6. Scarcely 2 m. E. of this, m. S.S.E. of Aldbar Castle, and 2 m. S.W. of Brechin, Mont is marked on the O.M. on a gently sloping field 316 ft. above the sea, at a place called Chapel. The term here means a trench, but it must have disappeared, and I could see nothing but a cottage and garden beside a square enclosure, fenced by a low mound, on the top of which was a ruined wall, of which the N. side, 104 ft. long, and part of the E. and W. sides, 84 and 48 ft., remained. The site seems to have been of some importance formerly, as on the O.M., besides the names Chapel, and Priest Shed (apparently the name of a field close to Moat), there is a Court Lar 200 yds, to the S. and Site of Church Barns 400 yds. S.W. I have retained this and the preceding No. 5 in this class, because they are marked Moat' on the O.M. But strictly they should have been relegated to the class with no existing remains.

7. The last occurrence of the word Moat (here signifying trench) on the O.M. is at Castlehill, Inshewan (fig. 12), which is situated on the N. bank of the South Esk, about 300 ft, above the sea, 2 m. W.S.W. of Tannadice Church, and 500 yds. W.N.W. of In-hewan House. The river here flows between perpendicular cliffs, and the fortress is formed by cutting a deep trench landward, where there is a bend of the river, the land side of the long oval being protected by the trench, and the river side by the cliff 30 or 40 ft, in height, and the foaming river rushing along in its rocky bed below. The trench is remarkably deep and steep, and from the configuration of the ground the counterscarp is higher than the scarp in the proportion of 25 to 15 ft., where highest, about the middle. Eastward, however, from the natural fall in the landward ground, the height of the counterscarp diminishes rapidly as it curves towards the river, and the entrance, C, is here, close to the stream. The nearly level and pretty regularly oval interior measures about 150 by 100 ft. A slight banking up of the landward edge may be remains of a rampart. There are no signs of stone work and no stones lie about.

(c) EARTHWORKS WITH SOME RESEMBLANCE TO MILITARY MOTES,
BUT NOT MARKED MOTE OR MOAT ON THE O.M.

8. The only earthwork resembling a mote in the Highlands of Perth is on the Torr Hill, m. S.S.W. of Aberfeldy, on the left bank of Moness Burn, 400 ft, above the sea, within 50 yds, of the public road to Crieff. Mr Hutcheson, from whose paper I take the plan fig. 13), calls it a very distinct and wellmarked earthen fort, measuring internally 154 by 124 ft., rectangular in form,

with two trenches on the slope, varying from 24 to 36 ft. in width, and rising 40 to 45 ft. above the surrounding ground. He also states that, on the ascend

Fig. 13. Earthwork, Torr Hill, Aberfeldy. (Mr Hutcheson.)

ing slope of the hill on the S. of the fort, there are several other well-marked trenches, which may have been thrown up as outworks to protect the fort on that the most vulnerable side.