Cairn O' Mounth/Cairn O' Mount ( gd, Càrn Mhon) is a high

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

pass in Aberdeenshire,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The place name is a survival of the ancient name for what are now the

Grampian Mountains The Grampian Mountains (''Am Monadh'' in Gaelic) is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. The Grampian rang ...

, earlier called "the

Mounth The Mounth ( ) is the broad upland in northeast Scotland between the Highland Boundary and the River Dee, at the eastern end of the Grampians. Name and etymology The name ''Mounth'' is ultimately of Pictish origin. The name is derived from ...

" (in Gaelic: "monadh", meaning '' mountains''). The name change happened from circa 1520 AD. The

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

shows the name as ''Cairn o' Mount''. It has served as an ancient

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

route at least from Roman times through the 13th century AD.Andrew Wyntoun, ''Original Chronicle'', ed. F.J. Amours, vol. 4, pp 298-299 and 300-301 (c. 1420) The alignment of the Cairnamounth,

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. The highest pass ...

and

Causey Mounth The Causey Mounth is an ancient drovers' road over the coastal fringe of the Grampian Mountains in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This route was developed as the main highway between Stonehaven and Aberdeen around the 12th century AD and it continu ...

ancient

trackway Historic roads (historic trails in USA and Canada) are paths or routes that have historical importance due to their use over a period of time. Examples exist from prehistoric times until the early 20th century. They include ancient trackways ...

s had a strong influence on the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

siting of many fortifications and other settlementsC. Michael Hogan, ''Elsick Mounth'', The Megalithic Portal, ed. Andy Burnham
/ref> in the area comprised by present-day Aberdeenshire on both sides of the River Dee.

Geography

Cairn O' Mounth is at 1493 feet (454 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

, and there are various commanding views of the surrounding landscape which extend as far as the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

. Before the modern A90 road was constructed, the pass served as one of the eight major crossing points for those travelling over the Grampians to

Deeside Deeside ( cy, Glannau Dyfrdwy) is the name given to a predominantly industrial conurbation of towns and villages in Flintshire and Cheshire on the Wales–England border lying near the canalised stretch of the River Dee that flows from nei ...

and into Northern Scotland; this entire crossing

is historically known as the ''Cairnamounth''. Deriving from this theory, a small

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

grew up in the

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places * Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland * Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits * Mountain pass, a lower place in a moun ...

. The high

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia Sc ...

Clachnaben Clachnaben (archaically "Cloch-na'bain"; Scottish Gaelic: "Clach na Beinne") is a 589-metre hill in Glen Dye, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is a distinctive hill visible from many points on Lower Deeside and is topped with a large granite tor. ''C ...

overlooks the road (now called the B974 road) through the pass. The

Scottish Tourist Board VisitScotland, formerly the Scottish Tourist Board, is a national tourism organisation for Scotland. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, and other ...

describes the modern B974 as an "adventurous" road, and it is often impassable due to snow or

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ing in winter.

History

In the 11th century AD,

Mac Bethad Macbeth ( – 15 August 1057) was King of Scots from 1040 until his death. He ruled over the Kingdom of Alba, which covered only a portion of present-day Scotland. Little is known about Macbeth's early life, although he was the son of Findláe ...

(commonly known as Macbeth) survived the original

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...

, for he was defeated and mortally wounded or killed by

Máel Coluim mac Donnchada Malcolm III ( mga, Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, label=Medieval Gaelic; gd, Maol Chaluim mac Dhonnchaidh; died 13 November 1093) was King of Scotland from 1058 to 1093. He was later nicknamed "Canmore" ("ceann mòr", Gaelic, literally "big head" ...

on the north side of the

in 1057, after retreating with his men over the Cairnamounth Pass to take his last stand at the battle at

Lumphanan Lumphanan ( ; gd, Lann Fhìonain) is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland located from Aberdeen and from Banchory. History Lumphanan is documented to be the site of the Battle of Lumphanan of 1057 AD, where Malcolm III of Scotland defeated ...

. The ''

Prophecy of Berchán In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pre ...

'' has it that he was wounded and died at

Scone A scone is a baked good, usually made of either wheat or oatmeal with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often slightly sweetened and occasionally glazed with egg wash. The scone is a basic component ...

, sixty miles to the south, some days later.The exact dates are uncertain, Woolf gives 15 August, Hudson 14 August and Duncan, following John of Fordun, gives 5 December; ''Annals of Tigernach'' 1058.5; ''Annals of Ulster'' 1058.6. Mac Bethad's stepson Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin was installed as king soon after. The Cairn O'Mounth pass was used by Edward I's

army in 1296 AD, en route back to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was also used twice by

Viscount Dundee Viscount of Dundee was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created on 12 November 1688 for John Graham with remainder to him and his heirs male of his body, which failing, to his other heirs male. He was made Lord Graham of Claverhouse at ...

's army during the first Jacobite rising of 1689. The route over the pass is probably prehistoric: there is a cairn in the pass that has been dated to approximately 2000 BC. It is possible that this cairn is the one named in the name of Cairn O'Mounth.

Line notes

References

* Scottish Mountaineering Club, ''Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal'', 1920 * William Forbes Skene, ''Chronicles of the Picts, Chronicles of the Scots, and Other Early Memorials'', 1867, H. M. General Register, Scotland, 499 pages {{coord, 56, 55, 0, N, 2, 34, 36, W, display=title Mountain passes of Scotland Transport in Aberdeenshire Kincardine and Mearns Landforms of Aberdeenshire

Geography

History

See also

Line notes

References