Near northern terminus of the Elsick Mounth Trail - geograph

The Elsick Mounth is an 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 trackway ...

crossing 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 ...

in the vicinity of

Netherley, Scotland Netherley, Scotland is a village in Aberdeenshire, situated approximately five miles northwest of Stonehaven.United Kingdom Ordnance Survey Map Landranger 45, Stonehaven and Banchory, 1:50,000 scale, 2004 Netherley is located in the Mounth area o ...

. This

was one of the few means of traversing the Grampian

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 ...

area in

prehistoric 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 ...

and

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, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

times. The highest pass of the route is attained within the

Durris Forest Road through Durris Forest, alt=A road running through Durris Forest with an old field wall alongside Durris Forest is a chiefly coniferous forest south of the River Dee approximately three kilometres west of Netherley in Aberdeenshire, Scotl ...

. Notable historical structures in the vicinity are

Maryculter House Maryculter House is a historic house in the village of Maryculter, or Kirkton of Maryculter, in the Lower Deeside area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. History Lying along both banks of the River Dee, the Lands of Culter originally included the pa ...

, Lairhillock Inn and

Muchalls Castle Muchalls Castle stands overlooking the North Sea in the countryside of Kincardine and Mearns, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The lower course is a well-preserved Romanesque, double-groined 13th-century tower house structure, built by the Frasers of ...

. Most of the lands through which the Elsick Mounth passes are within the Durris Forest; while this forest would have been a mixed deciduous forest in ancient times, currently it is managed as a

coniferous Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...

monoculture In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monoculture is widely used in intensive farming and in organic farming: both a 1,000-hectare/acre cornfield and a 10-ha/acre field of organic kale are ...

with extensive amounts of

clearfelling Clearcutting, clearfelling or clearcut logging is a forestry/logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down. Along with shelterwood and seed tree harvests, it is used by foresters to create certain types of forest ...

and subsequent replanting.C. Michael Hogan, ''Elsick Mounth'', Megalithic Portal, ed A. Burnham
/ref>

History

Roman legion The Roman legion ( la, legiō, ) was the largest military unit of the Roman army, composed of 5,200 infantry and 300 equites (cavalry) in the period of the Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC) and of 5,600 infantry and 200 auxilia in the period of ...

s marched from

Raedykes Raedykes is the site of a Roman marching camp located just over northwest of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. National Grid Reference NO 842902. It is designated as a scheduled monument. A marching camp was a temporary camp used mainly for ...

Normandykes Normandykes (Grid Reference: NO 830994) is the site of a Roman marching camp to the southwest of Peterculter, City of Aberdeen, Scotland. The near-rectangular site, measuring approximately , covers about of the summit and eastern slopes of a hi ...

Roman Camp In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word ''castrum'', plural ''castra'', was a military-related term. In Latin usage, the singular form ''castrum'' meant 'fort', while the plural form ''castra'' meant 'camp'. The singular and ...

at the south of Peterculter as they sought higher ground evading the bogs of Red Moss and other low-lying mosses associated with the

Burn of Muchalls The Burn of Muchalls is an easterly flowing stream in Aberdeenshire, Scotland that discharges to the North Sea. Its point of discharge is on a rocky beach set with scenic sea stacks. Flowing principally over agricultural lands, the Burn of Mu ...

. That march used the Elsick Mounth, one of the ancient

s crossing the

,C. Michael Hogan, ''Elsick Mounth'', Megalithic Portal, ed A. Burnham
/ref> lying west of Netherley. To the north the Romans proceeded to the next camp at

Ythan Wells Ythan Wells, also known as Glenmailen, is the site of a Roman military camp, near the farm of Glenmellan, east of the village of Ythanwells in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The site is a designated scheduled monument. Traces of two marching cam ...

.Temporary Roman Marching Camps: Ythan Wells Roman Camp
/ref>

References

External links

Photograph of clearfelling along the Elsick Mounth, Aberdeenshire, ScotlandArticle on the Elsick Mounth in Leopard Magazine by Nate Pedersen and Neil Ramsay
Geography of Aberdeenshire History of Aberdeenshire {{AncientRome-stub

History

See also

References

External links