Alternative Names Burrow Head
Site Type PROMONTORY FORT, TOWER HOUSE
Canmore ID 63137
Site Number NX43SW 1
NGR NX 4482 3423
Council DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY
Former Region DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY
Former District WIGTOWN
Former County WIGTOWNSHIRE
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
View this site on a map
|Notes and Activities|
NX43SW 1 4482 3423.
(NX 4482 3423) Castle Feather (NR)
OS 6" map (1957)
Castle Feather is a two period site, a promontory fort having subsequently been utilised for a medieval castle. The medieval features comprise the internal structures, the largest of which has 4' thick walls and is presumably the tower-house, while the others are ancillary buildings and the revetting of the scarp of the inner ditch is stone. The ramparts and ditches belong to the promontory fort, though they have subsequently been heavily mutilated. These defences seem to have comprised five earthen ramparts and ditches on the N side, and three on the S, but the central area is so disturbed that the relationship of these ramparts to one another is quite uncertain. The circular hollow in the interior, mentioned by the RCAHMS, is a quarry, no doubt contemporary with the castle.
RCAHMS 1912, visited 1911; TS., visited 1955
Generally as described. The multivallate promontory fort measures internally 88.0m NE-SW by 28.0m NW-SE. The probable tower-house foundations measure internally 5.0m by 4.0m. The medieval defensive wall, on the inside of the inner ditch, measures up to 3.7m in height and 2.0m wide.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (DWR) 23 January 1973
|11 October 1955||FIELD VISIT|
Project Marginal Land Survey
Notes This site was included within the RCAHMS Marginal Land Survey (1950-1962), an unpublished rescue project. Site descriptions, organised by county, are available to view online - see the searchable PDF in 'Digital Items'. These vary from short notes, to lengthy and full descriptions. Contemporary plane-table surveys and inked drawings, where available, can be viewed online in most cases - see 'Digital Images'. The original typecripts, notebooks and drawings can also be viewed in the RCAHMS search room.
Information from RCAHMS (GFG) 19 July 2013.
|Books and References|
RCAHMS (1912) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Fourth report and inventory of monuments and constructions in Galloway, 1, county of Wigtown, Edinburgh
Page(s): 172-4, No.496 Held at RCAHMS A.1.1.INV(4).R
RCAHMS (1950-9) Marginal Land Survey (unpublished typescripts). 3v. Typescripts
Held at RCAHMS A.1.1.MAR