Site type MOATED SITE
Canmore ID 49303
Site Number NT07SW 14
NGR NT 0107 7289
Council WEST LOTHIAN
Parish LINLITHGOW
Former Region LOTHIAN
Former District WEST LOTHIAN
Former County WEST LOTHIAN

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Archaeological Notes

NT07SW 14 0107 7289.

The names Castle Park and Castle Strip, at South Mains (NT 010 726), reflect the belief that the site of Tartraven Castle is to be found in Castle Field rather than on the site marked on the OS map (see NT07SW 3). Old local informants state that the latter is simply that of an old farm-steading. On the other hand, the site at South Mains has every appearance of being that of a motte.
A Macdonald 1941

At NT 0107 7289 in "Castle Field" on a low knoll surrounded by damp pastureland is a five-sided homestead moat. It measures 100.0m E-W by 65.0m within a ditch up to 11.0m wide and 0.8m deep. Cultivation has destroyed the ditch on th N, and no entrance is visible. The interior has been reduced by ploughing, but in the W corner is a low mound (not a motte) consisting of upcast from the ditch, and in the SE corner a relatively recent disturbed rectangular area. Further documentary or excavation evidence is required to confirm whether this homestead moat is the predecessor of Tartraven Castle, or that the OS siting is in error.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (DWR) 28 March 1974

This homestead arguably represents an early centre of the lordship of Tartraven, associated with a private chapel (NT07SW 5) in the 13th century, and later succeeded by Tartraven Castle (NT07SW 3).
G Stell 1980

Medieval Earthwork: Photographed by the RCAHMS in 1980

This site is listed in an Atlas of Scottish History (McNeill and MacQueen 1996) as a moated site.
Information from RCAHMS (DE) September 1997

Macdonald, A (1941) The place names of West Lothian, Edinburgh
Page(s): 151

McNeill and MacQueen, P G B and H L (1996) Atlas of Scottish History to 1707, in McNeill, P G B and MacQueen, H L Edinburgh
Page(s): 431 Held at RCAHMS C.2.1.MCN

Stell, G (1980) 'Medieval architecture and rural society in West Lothian', in Morrison, A Rural Settlement Studies: Some recent work.
Page(s): 46-56