Castle Hill motte

Castle Hill is thought to be a motte, although little is actually known about the site.

Standing on the north side of the Kittoch Water, it is just 180m from Rough Hill on the south side. It is likely that Castle Hill was the site of a wooden castle which was later superseded by a stone castle on Rough Hill.

It was formed by the digging of two ditches to the north and east of a small promontory jutting out into the Kittoch Water. The ditches are approximately 4.5m deep with a 2.2m counterscarp.

The material from these ditches was used to raise a kidney-shaped mound measuring around 40m north-east to south-west by 18m across.

At the north-east end of the mound is a slightly raised circular area, about 0.3m in height and 17m in diameter, which is most likely where the wooden keep would have stood.

Castle Hill may have been the site of a Norman castle, but it is thought to have later become a Douglas property. James Douglas, the 9th Earl of Douglas, forfeited his estates in 1455 after fighting with King James II, and his lands were granted to James Hamilton, the 1st Lord Hamilton.

Apart from the mound, nothing is now visible.