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
Parish WHITHORN
Former Region DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY
Former District WIGTOWN
Former County WIGTOWNSHIRE

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Archaeological Notes

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

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)