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Slamannan motte is a medieval earthwork monument located in Stirlingshire, Scotland, and is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. The site occupies ground underlain by the Scottish Coal Measures Group, a geological formation of Moscovian age that consists of mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete. This substantial underlying geology provided a stable foundation for the mound's construction and has endured beneath the monument for over three hundred million years.
Mottos of this type typically comprise a large earthen mound, often surrounded by a ditch and outer rampart, and would originally have supported a timber fortification on their summit. Such monuments were widely constructed across Scotland during the medieval period, serving as centres of lordly authority and territorial control. The Slamannan example represents a significant element of the region's feudal landscape, reflecting patterns of medieval settlement and power distribution across central Scotland.
Though the monument's specific date of construction and associated historical events remain to be more precisely established, its survival as an upstanding earthwork demonstrates the durability of this form of fortification and its importance within the medieval Scottish estate system.
Slamannan, motte is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM1737. View the official record →
Slamannan motte is a medieval earthwork monument located in Stirlingshire, Scotland, and is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM1737.
Slamannan, motte dates from the medieval period, and is classified as a motte. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Slamannan, motte 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 SM1737.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Thieves Hill, deserted settlement 400m E of (3.3 km), Lochend Pit No. 5 and bing, 650m SW of Lochend (4.1 km), Avonhead Colliery, miners' row (6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Slamannan, motte'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.
Slamannan, motte stands on Scottish Coal Measures Group, bedrock that formed in the Moscovian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.