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Greenlees Cottages Motte is a medieval motte located in Lanarkshire, Scotland, protected as a Scheduled Monument by Historic Environment Scotland. The earthwork sits upon bedrock composed of Dinantian extrusive rocks—mafic lava and tuff formed during the Mississippian period—which creates a distinctive geological foundation for the defensive structure. This volcanic geology underlying the site would have presented particular challenges and opportunities for medieval fortification.
The motte comprises an artificial mound typical of 12th and 13th-century frontier fortifications in southern Scotland. Such mottes commonly served administrative, defensive and domestic purposes, often forming the focal point of early medieval settlement hierarchies. The survival of the adjacent toponym "Cottages" suggests continuity of habitation at the location through later periods, even as the motte's primary defensive function became redundant.
The monument's preservation in the landscape of Lanarkshire, where such mottes remain comparatively scarce, provides valuable evidence of medieval settlement patterns and territorial organisation in the region. The Scheduled Monument designation recognises its archaeological significance and the information it retains about early medieval lordship and fortification strategies in south-central Scotland.
Greenlees Cottages,motte SE of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM3334. View the official record →
Greenlees Cottages Motte is a medieval motte located in Lanarkshire, Scotland, protected as a Scheduled Monument by Historic Environment Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM3334.
Greenlees Cottages,motte SE of dates from the medieval period, and is classified as a motte. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Greenlees Cottages,motte SE of is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM3334.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Gilbertfield Castle (1.4 km), Laigh Mains, castle earthworks 125m North of Mains Castle (2.6 km), Long Calderwood, cairn 40m SSW of 1 Cadell Gardens (3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Greenlees Cottages,motte SE of's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Greenlees Cottages,motte SE of stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Dinantian, bedrock that formed in the Mississippian. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.