Elsick Mounth

The Elsick Mounth is an ancient trackway crossing the Grampian Mountains in the vicinity of Netherley, Scotland. This trackway was one of the few means of traversing the Grampian Mounth area in prehistoric and medieval times.[1] The highest pass of the route occurs within the Durris Forest.[2] Notable historical structures in the vicinity are Maryculter House, Lairhillock Inn and Muchalls Castle. Most of the lands through which the Elsick Mounth passes are within the Durris Forest; this forest would have been a mixed deciduous forest in ancient times, but currently it is managed as a coniferous monoculture with extensive amounts of clearfelling and subsequent replanting.[3]

History

Roman legions marched from Raedykes to Normandykes Roman Camp (now just south of Peterculter) as they sought higher ground so as to avoid the bogs of Red Moss and other low-lying mosses associated with the Burn of Muchalls. That march used the Elsick Mounth, one of the ancient trackways crossing the Grampian Mountains,[3] lying west of Netherley. To the north the Romans proceeded to the next camp at Ythan Wells.[4]

See also

• Drovers' road
• Meikle Carewe Hill

References

1. W. Douglas Simpson, Proceedings of the Society, published in the United Kingdom, 102, 10 December 1928
2. United Kingdom Ordnance Survey Map Landranger 45, Stonehaven and Banchory, 1:50,000 scale, 2004
3. C. Michael Hogan, Elsick Mounth, Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham Cite error: The named reference "Hogan" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
4. Temporary Roman Marching Camps: Ythan Wells Roman Camp

External links

• Photograph of clearfelling along the Elsick Mounth, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
• Article on the Elsick Mounth in Leopard Magazine by Nate Pedersen and Neil Ramsay