This site is entirely user-supported. See how you can help.
We don't have any photos of this monument yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?
If Google Street View is available, the image is from the best available vantage point looking, if possible, towards the location of the monument. Where it is not available, the satellite view is shown instead.
Latitude: 57.1431 / 57°8'35"N
Longitude: -2.4953 / 2°29'42"W
OS Eastings: 370126
OS Northings: 805910
OS Grid: NJ701059
Mapcode National: GBR X2.VZ0Q
Mapcode Global: WH8PD.MQZD
Entry Name: Midmar, Church, settlement and (Cunningar) motte
Scheduled Date: 21 February 1955
Last Amended: 2 June 2000
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM100
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Ecclesiastical: church; Secular: motte
Location: Midmar
County: Aberdeenshire
Electoral Ward: Westhill and District
Traditional County: Aberdeenshire
The monument comprises the site of the medieval settlement of Midmar. Its most prominent features are the motte, known as Cunningar Motte, and the old parish church. Between them is an area of open ground which is likely to contain the remains of the associated settlement. The motte was first scheduled in 1955 and this rescheduling is intended to incorporate all parts of the settlement.
The monument lies in improved grassland, occupying a gentle spur between two watercourses. The motte comprises an artificial mound of earth measuring approximately 40m in diameter, and upstanding to a height of about 10m. The summit of the motte appears to have been ringed by an earthen bank to support the palisade but this may be the result of previous rabbit damage (Cunningar means rabbit warren). At the foot of the motte there are traces, particularly to the SW, of an encircling ditch. The motte was constructed to form the defensive base for the timber residence of either a Norman lord or a Normanised indigenous nobleman, and is likely to date to the 12th or the 13th century. Lordly occupation of the motte had ceased by the 16th Century when Midmar Castle was built almost a kilometre to the SE.
The church as it stands dates from the 17th century but occupies the site of an earlier building. It is complete to wallheads and has been subdivided to form family burial enclosures. The church was abandoned in c.1787 when the new church was built over half a kilometre to the N.
The likelihood that the ground between the motte and the church contained the related settlement is supported by the difficulty which stone in this field presents to the plough. At the NE edge of the field there is a strip of land which contrasts clearly with the rest of the field and may mark the line of a road.
The NE and SW edges of the area to be scheduled are defined by the edges of the field. The area is irregular in shape measuring 230m from its northernmost corner to its southernmost, and 110m NNE-SSW, as marked in red on the accompanying map.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Other nearby scheduled monuments