Dunachton ( gd, Dùn Neachdain) is an estate on the north-west shore of

Loch Insh Loch Insh is a loch in Highlands region, Scotland. It is situated in the heart of Badenoch and Strathspey, seven miles south of Aviemore and seven miles north of Kingussie. The nearest village to the loch is Kincraig. The loch is a location fo ...

Badenoch and Strathspey Badenoch and Strathspey is a former district of Highland (region), Highland region, Scotland. The district was created under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 as one of the eight districts of the Highland region. The same legislatio ...

, in the

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It occupies land immediately to the north of the

A9 road This is a list of roads designated A9. * A009 road (Argentina), a road in the northeast of Santa Fe Province * ''A9 highway (Australia)'' may refer to : ** A9 (Sydney), a road linking Windsor and Campbelltown ** A9 highway (South Australia), a l ...

and General Wade's Military Road. Recent research has suggested Dunachton as a potential location for the

Battle of Dun Nechtain The Battle of Dun Nechtain or Battle of Nechtansmere (Scottish Gaelic: ''Blàr Dhùn Neachdain'', Old Irish: ''Dún Nechtain'', Old Welsh: ''Gueith Linn Garan'', Modern Welsh: ''Gwaith Llyn Garan'', Old English: ''Nechtans mere'') was fought be ...

in 685 in which the

Picts The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ea ...

permanently secured independence from the

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

ns.

History

The area around Dunachton shows evidence of human occupation in

prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

, with flintwork and whetstones being found in the vicinity. The name Dunachton derives from ''Dun Neachdain'' the fort of Nechtan. Nechtan's identity is unknown, but it is likely he was one of several of the early

Pictish Kings The list of kings of the Picts is based on the Pictish Chronicle king lists. These are late documents and do not record the dates when the kings reigned. The various surviving lists disagree in places as to the names of kings, and the lengths o ...

that went by that name. Dunachton had some importance in the

Early Medieval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

period. It is the site of an early class I

Pictish Pictish is the extinct language, extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited num ...

stone which was discovered in 1870, having been recycled as a lintel stone in a farmstead building. This stone, with an incised deer head and dating from about the 7th century, was re-erected in the near-by field. In 2010 the Dutch archaeologist Lex Ritman informed the resident of Dunachton Lodge that the stone was fallen. So the Pictish stone was re-instated in the walled garden of the estate and was now well protected. Dunachton is first documented as 'Dwnachtan' in 1381, in reference to the 'capelle de Nachtan', the Chapel of Nechtan, which was dedicated to St Drostan. Recent research has pointed to the possibility that Dunachton may have been the correct site of the

in 685, when Bridei mac Bille, king of the Pictish kingdom of

Fortriu Fortriu ( la, Verturiones; sga, *Foirtrinn; ang, Wærteras; xpi, *Uerteru) was a Pictish kingdom that existed between the 4th and 10th centuries. It was traditionally believed to be located in and around Strathearn in central Scotland, but is ...

defeated

Ecgfrith of Northumbria Ecgfrith (; ang, Ecgfrið ; 64520 May 685) was the King of Deira from 664 until 670, and then King of Northumbria from 670 until his death in 685. He ruled over Northumbria when it was at the height of its power, but his reign ended with a dis ...

, securing Pictish independence from Northumbria. The battle site was previously thought to be somewhere in the vicinity of

Dunnichen Dunnichen ( gd, Dùn Neachdain, meaning the "Fort of Neachdan/Nechtan") is a small village in Angus, Scotland, situated between Letham, Angus, Letham and Forfar. It is close to Dunnichen Hill, at which the Battle of Dun Nechtain is popularly beli ...

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * An ...

, but reappraisal of the scant documentary evidence along with the reappraisal of

as being north of the

Grampian Mountains The Grampian Mountains (''Am Monadh'' in Scottish Gaelic, 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. T ...

has led to the suggestion that Dunachton is the true location. Dunachton Lodge was built on the remains of Dunachton Castle. The landowners were originally the MacNivens, who as a sept of the MacNaughtons, claim descent from Nechtan. The barony subsequently came into possession of the

Clan Mackintosh Clan Mackintosh (''Clann Mhic an Tòisich'') is a Scottish clan from Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. The chiefs of the clan are the Mackintoshes of Mackintosh. Another branch of the clan, the Mackintoshes of Torcastle, are the chiefs of Cl ...

in the early 16th century through the marriage of Isabel MacNiven, the heiress of the Barony of Dunachton to William Mackintosh, cousin of the chief of the clan Mackintosh, and later chief of Clan Mackintosh and the wider

Chattan Confederation Clan Chattan ( gd, Na Catanaich or gd, Clann Chatain) is a unique confederation of Highland clans. The clan is distinctive in highland clan history in that it was acknowledged to be a community or confederation, of twelve separate Scottish cla ...

. A centuries-old feud between the Mackintoshes and

Clan MacDonald of Keppoch Clan MacDonald of Keppoch ( gd, Clann Dòmhnaill na Ceapaich ), also known as Clan Ranald of Lochaber or Clan MacDonell of Keppoch'','' is a Highland Scottish clan and a branch of Clan Donald. The progenitor of the clan is Alistair Carrach Mac ...

came to a head in 1688 at the

Battle of Maol Ruadh The Battle of Mulroy (''Blàr a' Mhaoil Ruaidh'' in Scottish Gaelic) was a Scottish clan battle fought in August 1688 in the Lochaber district of Scotland. It was fought between the Clan Mackintosh who were supported by government troops under ...

. Dunachton Castle was destroyed the following year by

Coll MacDonald Coll MacDonald was a son of James MacDonald, 6th of Dunnyveg and Agnes Campbell, daughter of Colin Campbell, 3rd Earl of Argyll. Upon mistakenly hearing that his brother, Ranald MacDonald of Smerby, had been killed at Duart Castle under orders of ...

under the auspices of the Jacobite cause, provoking a public rebuke from

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. It was never rebuilt. Dunachton was bought in the 1950s by Andrew Forbes-Leith, who later inherited the baronetcy of Fyvie. In the 1970s he turned of Dunachton into the

Highland Wildlife Park The Highland Wildlife Park is a safari park and zoo near Kingussie, Highland, Scotland. The park is located within the Cairngorms National Park. The park is run by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and is a member of the British and I ...

.Andrew Forbes Leith obituary

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * *{{citation , last1 = Wordsworth , first1 = J , last2 = Harden , first2= G , year = 1986 , title = Dunachton fieldwalking collection , journal = Discovery and Excavation in Scotland , pages = 16 , url = http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-753-1/ahds/dissemination/pdf/1980/1986.pdf Populated places in Badenoch and Strathspey Badenoch and Strathspey