Alternative Names Seaton Park, Mote Hill; Aberdeen Cathedral Grounds; Tillydrone Motte
Site type MOUND
Canmore ID 20205
Site Number NJ90NW 8
NGR NJ 93665 08870
Council ABERDEEN, CITY OF
Parish ABERDEEN
Former Region GRAMPIAN
Former District CITY OF ABERDEEN
Former County ABERDEENSHIRE

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C14 Radiocarbon Dating
C14 radiocarbon dating

Archaeological Notes

NJ90NW 8 93665 08870

(NJ 9366 0886) Mote Hill (NR)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1974).

Location formerly entered as NJ 9366 0886.

See also NJ90NW 332.

For Seaton Park (centred NJ 9390 0910), see NJ90NW 407.00.

'Tillydrone', 'an ancient, artificial, earthen mound' (Ordnance Survey Name Book [ONB] 1867), is probably a motte (Simpson and Webster 1972). It is tree-covered and conical, 30 metres diameter at base, with a flat, oval top 9 metres by 5 metres. In height it is c.7 metres on the east and 5 metres on the west due to the slope of the ground.
Dr Simpson (Dr W D Simpson, Librarian, Aberdeen University), reported an encircling ditch, but this was not visible at the time of field visit. It is composed of fine, sandy soil containing very little stone (OS Field Surveyor JLD). Local tradition says it was erected as a beacon site.
Visited by OS (JLD) 12 September 1952.
Name Book 1867; C G Simpson and B Webster 1972.

This monument is situated on a NE-facing slope near the edge of a steep, high terrace and at an altitude of about 32m OD. It is within the area of a public park and may have had an encircling ditch.
NMRS, MS/712/83.

NJ 936 088 Six trenches were excavated on and around the mound known as Tillydrone Motte in October and November 2001. The excavation revealed that there had been a wooden palisade and stone revetment around the mound, but no dating evidence was found for any of the associated layers. A saddle quern reused in the stone revetment suggested a prehistoric site in the area. Charcoal layers were excavated from adjacent to the revetment, from a layer through which the defensive structure had been cut. A radiocarbon date of AD 170?45 was obtained for one of these layers. Trenches through the base of the mound revealed that there had been no surrounding ditch, and that small amounts of quarrying and reinstatement had taken place in the 19th or early 20th century.
Archive deposited in Aberdeen City SMR and the NMRS.
Sponsor: HS
A Cameron 2002.

(Classification changed to Mound). There is no evidence that this rounded hillock at Tillydrone, which lies in parkland 250m W of Aberdeen Cathedral (NJ 90NW 9), is a motte. The mound stands 7m in height, but it measures less than 10m across the top. As such, it is too small to provide sufficient space for a manorial establishment, though this does not preclude a purely military function as the site of a tower, like that excavated at Abinger in England, and noted by Kenyon.
Recent excavations have revealed that the lower part of the mound is natural, but no ditch was located around the base of the mound, only a stone revetment. A palisade cut into the natural mound overlay an Iron Age structure which was radiocarbon dated to 170 + 45 AD. Since no definitive medieval finds or features that would support a tower have been recovered, there is no conclusive evidence for it being used as a motte in the medieval period. However, the tradition of its use as a beacon cannot be discounted.
Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 27 September 2001.
J R Kenyon 1993; A Cameron 2002.

Scheduled as 'Mote Hill, palisaded settlement and cairn... a prominent conical mound situated within Seaton Park... The mound stands on the edge of a steep, NE-facing slope running down to the River Dee, while the remaining approaches to the mound are open and relatively flat. The base of the mound is 30m in diameter while the summit is flat and oval-shapwed measuring 9m by 5m. The mound is 7m high on the easy and 5m on the west owing to the sloping ground.'
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 6 January 2009.

Bogdan and Bryce, N and I B D (1991) 'Castles, manors and 'town houses' survey', Discovery Excav Scot
Page(s): 23

Cameron, A (2002e) 'Tillydrone Motte, Aberdeen City (Aberdeen parish), motte; saddle quern', Discovery Excav Scot, vol.3
Page(s): 7

Kenyon, J R (1990a) Medieval fortifications, The archaeology of medieval Britain series Leicester
Page(s): 13-17 Held at RCAHMS F.5.2.KEN