skip to main content
Menu
  • Blog
    • Art & design
    • Castles
    • Cycling
    • Edinburgh
    • Edinburgh Festival
    • Food & drink
    • General
    • History
    • Music
    • Sport
    • Walking
    • Whisky
    • Wildlife
  • Castles
    • Glossary
    • Mottes
    • Stay in a castle
    • Castle blog posts
    • Alphabetical list of castles
    • Castles divided by county
    • Photos of castles
    • Castles we've visited
  • History
    • Castles
    • Ancient history
      • barrows
      • brochs
      • cairns
      • caves
      • chambered cairns
      • cists
      • crannogs
      • cursus monuments
      • forts
      • henges
      • rock art
      • sacred sites
      • souterrains
      • standing stones
      • stone circles
    • Pictish history
      • Pictish stones
      • Pictish sites
      • Pictish placenames
    • Clans
      • Surnames
      • Trace your ancestors
      • Tartan
    • Trace your ancestors
  • Culture
    • Music
      • Bands & musicians
      • Music links
    • Film
    • Television
    • Placenames
      • Pictish placenames
  • Eat
  • Drink
    • Scottish beer
    • Scottish gin
    • Scottish vodka
  • Stay
  • Travel guide
    • City guides
    • Car hire
    • Airports
  • Walking
    • Munros
    • West Highland Way
  • Photos
    • ancient sites
      • Dark Age sites
      • megalithic sites
      • other carved stones
      • Pictish sites
      • Roman sites
    • buildings
    • miscellaneous
    • places in Scotland
  • Offers
  • Home
  • history
  • castles

Dunipace motte


There was a castle at Dunipace as early as the mid-12th century, and almost certainly earlier. Nothing now remains of it but the motte on which it stood.

In a document from 1163, Pope Alexander III wrote to Geoffrey, the Abbot of Dunfermline, and mentions “the chapel of the castle of Dunipace”. The most likely location for this castle is on one of the Hills of Dunipace. These small hills, frequently referred to as natural mounds, certainly fit the model of mottes, and look as if they have been enhanced and sculpted by man.

Whether the castle was on the smaller or the larger hill is unclear. The smaller hill has the look of a classic 11th century motte, measuring around 60m in diameter and rising to a height of 20m.

While the larger hill, with its elongated summit, looks more suited to a more extensive motte and bailey castle of the 12th and 13th centuries.

It may be that there was an early wooden tower on the small hill, followed later by a stone castle on the larger hill. But that is just speculation on my part, and I have yet to find any evidence for it.

Some time between 1178 and 1195 Gilbert de Umfraville, an Anglo-Norman baron who later became the Earl of Angus, gifted two oxgangs (around 40 acres) of land at Dunipace to the Abbey of Cambuskenneth. He had previously given the Abbey “the land lying on the west side of the river, which descends by the three stones to the brow of the hill of St Alexander, and along the summit of that hill to the church of St Alexander”.

The lands at Dunipace remained the property of the Abbey for the next 305 years, until the Abbot of Cambuskenneth granted “the Kirklands of Dunipace and St. Alexander’s Chapel” to Alexander Livingston in 1495. It is tempting to speculate that it was at this time that the new Dunipace Castle was built, rendering the old motte surplus to requirements.

stay in a castle
  • advertisement
  • advertisement

Alternative names for Dunipace motte

Dinnieplace; Donipas; Donypace; Donypas; Dunnipace; Dunypais

Where is Dunipace motte?

Dunipace motte is in the parish of Dunipace and the county of Stirlingshire.

Grid reference:NS 837 816

Lat / long:56.014007,-3.866045

Bing Maps | Google Maps | Historic maps (NLS) | OpenStreetMap | Ordnance Survey | PastMap | Streetmap | Wikimapia

OS Map for Dunipace motte

OS map 349
Falkirk, Cumbernauld & Livingston (Linlithgow, Bathgate & Kilsyth)
OS Explorer map 349


  • advertisement

Directions to Dunipace motte

Enter a starting point

  • advertisement
  • advertisement

Weather at Dunipace motte

5°C
max 6°C / min 4°C
25km/h WSW
1024mb
88%
74%
07:55 17:04

Broken clouds
Weather observed at Bonnybridge at 08:19

References (books)

The lands and lairds of Dunipace
John Charles Gibson
Stirling, 1903

References (websites)

Canmore

Castles near Dunipace motte

Dunipace Castle

0.2km away

Motte of Seabegs

2.3km away

Torwood Castle

2.7km away

Maiden Castle (site of)

3.1km away

Woodside (site of)

3.1km away

Herbertshire Castle (site of)

3.6km away

Stenhouse (site of)

4.3km away

Castle Rankine (site of)

5.2km away

Skaithmuir Tower (site of)

5.4km away
more castles....
  • advertisement

Ancient sites near Dunipace motte

Doghillock Farm (possible) standing stone

3.1km away

Tappoch broch

3.3km away

Rosebank (site of) standing stone

3.8km away

Easter Moss souterrain

7.9km away

Auchincloich (site of) broch

8.2km away

Bannockburn West cursus

8.7km away

Randolphfield A standing stone

11.6km away

Randolphfield B standing stone

11.6km away

Airthrey Stone standing stone

15.0km away
more ancient sites....

Pictish stones near Dunipace motte

Hawkhill Class III cross-slab

12.7km away

Old Kilmadock 2 Class I symbol stone

24.5km away

Old Kilmadock 1 Class II symbol stone

24.6km away

Tullibole Class III cross slab

28.9km away

Blackford Class I symbol stone

29.4km away

Princes Street Gardens Class I symbol stone

41.9km away

Abernethy No. 2 Class III symbol stone

42.7km away

Abernethy No. 4 Class III cross shaft

42.7km away

Dupplin Cross Class III cross

42.9km away
more Pictish stones....

Pictish sites near Dunipace motte

Todholes (possible) silver chain

41.2km away

Borland silver chain

41.9km away

Whitecleugh silver chain

61.8km away

Norrie's Law hoard

62.7km away

Haddington silver chain

68.0km away

Whitlaw silver chain

73.8km away

Traprain Law silver chain

74.6km away

Hoardweel silver chain

97.0km away

Dunnicaer fort

147.3km away
more Pictish sites....
  • advertisement

Accommodation near Dunipace motte

The Red Lion Hotel
hotelLarbert
2.1km away
Premier Inn Falkirk (Larbert)
hotel, restaurant, barLarbert
2.5km away
The Plough Hotel
hotelLarbert
3.3km away
Premier Inn Falkirk Central
hotel, restaurantFalkirk
4.0km away
Best Western Park Hotel
hotel, restaurant, barFalkirk
4.6km away
The Graeme Hotel
hotelCarron
5.1km away
Antonine Hotel
hotel, barFalkirk
5.5km away
Hotel Cladhan
hotelFalkirk
5.7km away
Glenskirlie House & Castle
hotel, restaurant, barBanknock
6.6km away
The Grange Manor
hotelGrangemouth
7.4km away

Accommodation search

(leave blank to view all)
Accommodation type
bed and breakfasts
campsites
castles
holiday parks
hostels
hotels
self-catering apartments
self-catering cottages
self-catering lodges
spas
  • advertisement
more accommodation....

Cafés, restaurants & bars near Dunipace motte

Premier Inn Falkirk (Larbert)
hotel, restaurant, barLarbert
2.5km away
Premier Inn Falkirk Central
hotel, restaurantFalkirk
4.0km away
Best Western Park Hotel
hotel, restaurant, barFalkirk
4.6km away
Antonine Hotel
hotel, barFalkirk
5.5km away
Glenskirlie House & Castle
hotel, restaurant, barBanknock
6.6km away
Premier Inn Falkirk North
hotel, restaurantFalkirk
8.0km away
Airth Castle Hotel
hotel, bar, restaurantAirth
8.1km away
Premier Inn Stirling South (M9, J9)
hotel, restaurantStirling
8.6km away
The Westerwood Hotel & Golf Resort
hotel, restaurant, barCumbernauld
8.7km away
Premier Inn Falkirk East
hotel, restaurantFalkirk
9.1km away
more food.... / more drink....

Related pages

Dirleton Castle in East Lothian
Dirleton Castle in East Lothian
Garden of Cosmic Speculation plus castles
Garden of Cosmic Speculation plus castles
Inveraray Castle and standing stone
Inveraray Castle and standing stone
A doocot, a castle and a beach in East Lothian
A doocot, a castle and a beach in East Lothian
A pair of castles on the River Tweed
A pair of castles on the River Tweed
Dunbar harbour and castle
Dunbar harbour and castle
Published on the 22nd of February 2012 at 8:38 am. Updated on the 25th of May 2014 at 4:14 pm.

Leave a comment

back to the top of the page

Connect with us

Like us on Facebook

Receive our newsletter

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by Stravaig_Aboot
  • Ancestry advert

Quick links

Stay in a Scottish castle
Edinburgh Festival accommodation
Hotels in Scotland
Car hire in Scotland
Places to eat and drink in Scotland
Castles in Scotland
Trace your Scottish ancestors
Scottish clans
Standing stones in Scotland
The Picts
Pictish symbol stones
Pictish placenames
Scottish bands and musicians
Scottish films
Scottish TV shows
West Highland Way

About

Andy Sweet above Fast Castle

Stravaiging around Scotland is written, photographed and researched by Andy Sweet.
read more....

Cookies

To make this site work properly we use cookies to store information on your computer. Click here to read more.
© 2003 - 2023 Andy Sweet / Stravaiging around Scotland. Powered by WordPress. Hosted by Tsohost.