Satellite Imagery
Satellite Imagery
HER: Aberdeenshire Historic Environment Record NJ62SE0001 (None)
NMR: NJ 62 SE 1 (85507)
SM: 2114
NGR: NJ 6825 2240
X: 368250 Y: 822400 (OSGB36)
The dominant landmark in the centre of Aberdeenshire, The Mither Tap o' Bennachie, is crowned by a spectacular fortification with massive walls. The summit of the hill is an inhospitable boss of bare rock which was probably once enclosed by a wall, though the only trace of it remaining is a line of outer facing-stones on a ledge above a scree of rubble on the SE, and another scree below the crag on the NE. Below this wall on the S and E there has been a second wall, though again this is largely reduced to a scree dropping almost to the foot of the slope, while encircling the foot of the boss is a massive wall some 8m in thickness, which apparently rose internally in at least two built steps from a kerbed plinth that can be detected at its foot to the N of the entrance on the ENE. Where best preserved, the lower and upper steps of the inner face are nine and five course high respectively, presumably culminating in a parapet at least one tier above this level, and long runs of the outer face can also be traced at several places in the rubble. The sheer scale of this wall suggests that it has been at some stage the principal line of defence, swinging round the NE and SE flanks of the boss from its vertical face on the N to the terminal of the spine of outcrop dropping down from the boss on the SSW; on the W the wall likewise extends from the cliff-face to the terminal of this spine, and though it must once have spanned the outcrops to complete the southern sector of the circuit, no trace of any rubble now survives here. This outer defence evidently replaced an earlier wall lying immediately inside its line, on the S forming a terrace faced with large blocks to a height of 1.2m in height and possibly retaining the remains of an earlier entrance on the SSE. The precise course of this earlier circuit is uncertain, for while it may have cut back W across the spine of rocks, there are also traces of an earlier wall behind the S end of the bank of rubble forming the W sector of the enclosure; it too has traces of an entrance immediately opposite the gap in the rubble here. The interior of the citadel-like enclosures taking in the summit of the boss are unmeasurable, though the inner cannot have exceeded (0.06ha). In its second phase the outer wall enclosed an oval area measuring about 120m from NNE to SSW by 70m transversely (0.67ha), though relatively little of it could have been occupied. Two later pens are visible immediately behind the lower of the two walls on the boss, but Christian Maclagan's account drawn up in the late 19th century is probably not a particularly reliable guide to the former presence of other structures in the interior. The fort with its viewpoint on the summit has been a major attraction for walkers and tourists, which has led to significant later disturbance, including the construction of wall-faces to revet the tumbled rubble to either side of the track approaching the entrance on the ENE before 1867; the date of a wall extending round an outcrop on the N side of this track is unknown. Remedial works along the pathway within the entrance recovered stratified charcoal samples that have been date to the early medieval period, though their precise context remains obscure (Atkinson 2006).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -281460 Y: 7819866 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.5283940098386397 Latitude: 57.291171735835505 (EPSG:4326)
Country: Scotland
Current County or Unitary Authority: Aberdeenshire
Historic County: Aberdeenshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Oyne
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
None
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✓ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✓ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| Contour Fort | ✓ |
| Partial Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort | ✗ |
| Hillslope Fort | ✗ |
| Level Terrain Fort | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort | ✗ |
| Hilltop | ✓ |
| Coastal Promontory | ✗ |
| Inland Promontory | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop | ✗ |
| Ridge | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp | ✗ |
| Hillslope | ✗ |
| Lowland | ✗ |
| Spur | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: Dominant feature visible for miles around
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 518.0m
N/A
Dates of AD 640-780 and 340-540 have ben returned from an obscure context
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✓ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | At least two later structures built within the interior, and disturbance through tourist activities visiting the viewpoint on the summit. |
| C14: | Two radiocarbon dates |
RCAHMS and Abberdeenshire Council hold extensive collections of oblique aerial photographs
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1726): | Noted by Alexander Gordon (1726, 162) |
| Other (1840): | Noted (NSA, 12, Aberdeenshire, 570-1) |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1867): | Annotated Fort on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Aberdeenshire 1870, sheet 53.4; Name Book, Aberdeenshire, no.70, p 60 ) |
| Earthwork Survey (1876): | Plan and description by Christian Maclagan (1881, 35-7; RCAHMS DC52959) |
| Other (1943): | Description by Douglas Simpson (1943, 60-1) |
| Other (1962): | Scheduled |
| Other (1973): | Surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS |
| Other (1977): | Surveyed at 1:10,000 by the OS |
| Other (1981): | Visited by the Hill-Fort Study Group |
| Earthwork Survey (1996): | Plan and description by RCAHMS (Halliday 2007, 105-7, fig 6.32; RCAHMS DC 44322, DC44401-4, DC44611, DC44651-2, DC44703-4 & SC1333030) |
| Excavation (2006): | Remedial work along the path (Atkinson 2006) |
| Other (2008): | Re-Scheduled |
Two later structures, but otherwise featureless
Douglas Simpson claims there was once a stone-lined well, but it was filled in at the beginning of the 20th century (1943, 121)
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Features | ✓ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Stratified deposits of uncertain context
| No Known Excavation | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✓ |
None
| No Known Geophysics | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Finds | ✓ |
| Pottery | ✗ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
See main summary
| 3: | None |
| 2: | Includes an entrance in an earlier wall |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (East): | heavily reconstructed through outer wall |
| 2. Simple Gap (South east): | Through earlier outer wall |
| 3. Simple Gap (South west): | Through both walls forming the W sector |
Major outer wall enclosing whole of the boss forming the summit, but with at least two inner walls on the boss itself. The relationships between the various works are unknown
| Area 1: | 0.67ha. |
| Total: | 0.67ha. |
Total Footprint Area: 1.3ha.
None
| ✓ | Earlier outer wall is set immediately to the rear of the main wall on the SE and W |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 3 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✓ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✓ |
| Rubble | ✗ |
| Wall-walk | ✓ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Defences not excavated
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Murus Duplex | ✗ |
| Timber-framed | ✗ |
| Timber-laced | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
Number of Ditches: None
| ✗ | None |
Atkinson, D (2007) 'Mither Tap, Bennachie, Aberdeenshire (Oyne parish), watching brief, radiocarbon dating'. Disc Exc Scot, New Ser, 8 (2007), 28
Feachem, R (1963) A guide to prehistoric Scotland. Batsford: London (p 104-5)
Gordon, A (1726) Itinerarium Septentrionale: or A Journey Thro' most of the Counties of Scotland And Those in the North of England. London
Halliday, S P (2007) The later prehistoric landscape. In RCAHMS (2007) In the Shadow of Bennachie: A Field Archaeology of Donside, Aberdeenshire. RCAHMS & Society of Antiquaries of Scotland: Edinburgh
Maclagan, C (1881) 'Benachie, ancient fortress', Chips from old stones
Name Book, Ordnance Survey Object Name Books (6 inch and 1/2500 scale); available https://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/
Simpson, W D (1943) The Province of Mar, being the Rhind Lectures. Aberdeen University Studies, Aberdeen
Atlas of Hillforts:
Wikidata:
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
Document Version 1.1