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Mote of Mark

Dumfries and Galloway, GB

Mote of Mark

The Mote of Mark is a granite hill rising some 45 metres (148 ft) above the Rough Firth near the outlet of the Urr Water, near the village of Rockcliffe. It was the site of a vitrified fort during the Early Middle Ages, with about one third of an acre of the summit enclosed by a rampart of timber an

d stone. At the time of its occupation in the sixth and seventh centuries AD, the Mote lay within the kingdom of Rheged in the Celtic Old North. The remains of a fort atop the Mote were first recognized by Robert Riddell in 1790. In 1913, the site was excavated by Alexander Curle, whose investigations were cut short by the onset of World War I the following year. Further excavations were undertaken in 1973 and 1979. The remains of pottery and traces of metalworking (slag) indicate that the site was inhabited by the mid-sixth century AD, before the construction of the rampart. The rampart, which was constructed in a single phase, dates to the end of the sixth century. Imported ceramic and glass wares are a feature of the site throughout its period of habitation. Non-ferrous metalworking also continued within the rampart into the late seventh century. Around that time, the fort was burned down...

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