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Latitude: 55.4178 / 55°25'4"N
Longitude: -2.7927 / 2°47'33"W
OS Eastings: 349916
OS Northings: 614051
OS Grid: NT499140
Mapcode National: GBR 85YS.5P
Mapcode Global: WH7XN.22DZ
Entry Name: Hawick Moat Park, motte
Scheduled Date: 18 February 1958
Last Amended: 29 October 2003
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM1702
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Secular: motte
Location: Hawick
County: Scottish Borders
Electoral Ward: Hawick and Hermitage
Traditional County: Roxburghshire
The monument comprises an artificial earthen motte of truncated conical form, located on the high ground above the west bank of the Siltrig Water, some 500m SSW of its confluence with the River Teviot. The monument was last scheduled in 1958, but the area defined was inadequate to protect the likely bailey.
The motte rises to some 7.6m and has a diameter at its base of about 29.75m. Excavation in 1912 located a ditch around the base which varied in width from 4.25m to 8.5m, and in depth between 1.2m and 2.15m. The limited finds located in the course of excavation, including a coin of Henry II, pointed to a twelfth-century date of construction, at a time when Hawick was a possession of the Lovell family.
No traces of baileys or courtyards have so far been identified, though it is likely that one or more would have been associated with a motte of this scale.
The area tobe scheduled is intended to cover the motte itself, together with the area likely to have been occupied by the bailey. It is defined by the inner edges of the path surrounding the parkland around the motte, excluding the seating area to the north and the playground to the SW, extending to an area with extreme dimensions of 153m NE-SW and 102m NW/SE, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The monument is of national importance as a finely preserved example of an earthwork motte that is likely to date from the period of the introduction of military feudalism to Scotland. It has the added significance of having high archaeological potential.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the site as NT41SE 18.
References:
Alexander O Curle 1913-14, 'Account of some slight excavations at the Mote of Hawick', PROC SOC ANTIQ SCOT 48, 18-24.
RCAHMS 1956, AN INVENTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS OF ROXBURGHSHIRE: WITH THE FOURTEENTH REPORT OF THE COMMISSION, 2V, Vol. 2, Edinburgh: RCAHMS, 135.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
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