Chesterhill (possible) (site of)

Chesterhill, of which no trace now remains, was a large mound which has been suggested as a possible motte and castle site.

The mound, which has been levelled and is now built over, is said to have had a well in the middle of it and it has been suggested that it was the “Mothlaw” of Anstruther mentioned in a charter of 1590 and may represent a potential progenitor of Dreel Castle.

The charter in question granted John Betoun of Balfour some land in Anstruther Easter and the right to draw water from a spring under the Mothlaw, which would suggest that the Mothlaw was in Anstruther Easter rather than Anstruther Wester.

A few years before 1792 two skeletons were discovered on the mound in what sounds like a cist. This may indicate that the mound was actually a barrow or cairn, although this wouldn’t preclude its reuse as a motte.