Bennachie ( ;

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

: ''Beinn na Cìche'') is a range of hills in

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

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 ...

.Whiteley, A.W.M. (Ed.) (1976). ''The Book of Bennachie''. The Bailies of Bennachie. . Mostly anecdotes and verse about the mountain and its surroundings. It has several tops, the highest of which, Oxen Craig, has a height of . Though not particularly high, compared to other peaks within Scotland, the mountain is very prominent, owing to its isolation and the relative flatness of the surrounding terrain, and dominates the skyline from several viewpoints. The peak that stands out the most visually is Mither Tap (518 m, 1699 feet) and from its top there are good views of the county to the north and east. Most of the tops lie along an east / west

ridge A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...

, with the exception of Millstone Hill (409 m) an outlier or spur which is separated from and to the south of the main ridge. Mither Tap has an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

fort on its summit. Unlike with many other hilltop forts in the area, there are no signs of

vitrification Vitrification (from Latin ''vitreum'', "glass" via French ''vitrifier'') is the full or partial transformation of a substance into a glass, that is to say, a non-crystalline amorphous solid. Glasses differ from liquids structurally and glasses po ...

in the stone. Bennachie is visible from a number of distant points; to the north it is visible from Longman Hill, a point considerably to the north.

History

Some believe that the peak had religious significance to the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

people who inhabited this area. This theory is supported by the large number of

standing stone A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright rock (geology), stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. T ...

s in the surrounding area. The significance is believed to be connected to the profile of the hill, which is shaped like a female

breast The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues. In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and secret ...

, which is reflected in the name "Mither Tap" (Mother Top) and "Bennachie" (''Beinn na Ciche'': 'hill of the breast'). It has been suggested as a possible site of the battle of

Mons Graupius The Battle of Mons Graupius was, according to Tacitus, a Roman military victory in what is now Scotland, taking place in AD 83 or, less probably, 84. The exact location of the battle is a matter of debate. Historians have long questioned some ...

. An alternative Gaelic etymology from *''Beinn a' Chath'', i.e. 'hill of the battle', is perhaps a possibility. From 1800 to 1859 common land on the east side of Bennachie was home to a community of squatters known locally as the

Colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

. A small number of families led a crofting life often doing skilled work, such as dyking and quarrying, for local landowners. After 1859 the Colony dwindled as the common land was broken up and divided amongst the local estates. However, the last of the original colonists, George Esson, lived on the hill until his death in the 1930s. Visitors to Bennachie can explore the remains of the Colony and extensive work is being done on site and amongst local parish records to determine the history of the Colonists. Mither Tap has an astronomical alignment with the nearby Pictish Fortalice of Caskieben (currently located within Keith Hall). Dr. Arthur Johnston said "the hill of Benochie, a conical elevation about eight miles distant, casts its shadow over Caskieben at the periods of the equinox."

Paths and environment

The range of hills is a popular destination for walkers since it is relatively close to

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. The

Gordon Way The Gordon Way is a waymarked hiking trail in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It runs for through the Bennachie Forest. The route was one of a series maintained by the Forestry Commission and Aberdeenshire Council. In 2016, the council withdrew comp ...

is a waymarked trail that traverses the Southern flank of Bennachie between the Visitors Centre in the East and Suie Car Park to the West. Most of the Bennachie range is owned by

Forestry and Land Scotland Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) ( gd, Coilltearachd agus Fearann Alba) is responsible for managing and promoting Scotland's national forest estate: land, predominantly covered in forest, owned by the Scottish Government on behalf of the nation. ...

, which maintains a network of paths on and around the hills, several car parks and a visitor centre located at the eastern foot of the range. A volunteer conservation charity, th
Bailies of Bennachie
founded in 1973, helps with this work and with other environmental and archaeological activities on the hill. There are several marked paths, including fairly easy ascents of Oxen Craig and Mither Tap that start from the centre.

Gallery

File:Bennachie_from_the_North.jpg, Bennachie from the North. Peaks are from left to right: Mither Tap, Craigshannoch, Bruntwood Tap, Oxen Craig, Watch Craig. File:Oxen_craig.jpg, Oxen Craig from Mither Tap File:Mither_tap_view_north.jpg, View north from Mither Tap File:Bennachie panorama by Bruce McAdam.jpg, Bennachie viewed from the South, with the peak of Mither Tap to the right. File:Mither_tap_summit.jpg, View from the summit of Mither Tap

References

External links

{{Commons category, Bennachie * Computer-generated virtual panorama
Oxen Craig
* Flickr Group devoted to Bennachie photo
Flickr Bennachie Group

Forestry Commission Website for Bennachie
* Bailies of Bennachie a Bennachie Voluntary Conservation Societ

* ttps://www.360routes.com/2020/10/22/mither-tap-bennachie/ Virtual Tour of Mither Tap Marilyns of Scotland Mountains and hills of the Eastern Highlands Mountains and hills of Aberdeenshire Archaeological sites in Aberdeenshire Hill forts in Scotland Bronze Age sites in Scotland Iron Age sites in Scotland Scheduled monuments in Scotland Mountains and hills of the United Kingdom with toposcopes

History

Paths and environment

See also

Gallery

References

External links