The Mounth ( ) is the broad upland in northeast

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 ...

between the

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

Boundary and the River Dee, at the eastern end of the

Grampians 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 ...

Name and etymology

The name ''Mounth'' is ultimately of

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 ...

origin. The name is derived from ''*monɪð'', meaning "mountain" (c.f.

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

''mynydd''). It is invariably referred to as "The Mounth" and pronounced "munth".

Details

The ranges to the north-west are known as the

Monadh Liath The Monadhliath Mountains , or Monadh Liath, are a range of mountains in Scotland. Monadh Liath is Scottish Gaelic, and means "grey mountain range". Running in a northeast to southwest direction, it lies on the western side of Strathspey, to the w ...

and the Monadh Ruadh (now called The

Cairngorms The Cairngorms ( gd, Am Monadh Ruadh) are a mountain range in the eastern Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain Cairn Gorm. The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national park (the Cairngorms National Park) on 1 S ...

), meaning the ''Grey Mounth'' and the ''Red Mounth''. Some sources regard the Mounth as extending as far west as Drumochter Pass ( A9), but it is now generally agreed to start at the

Cairnwell Pass The Cairnwell Pass ( gd, Càrn a' Bhailg) is a mountain pass on the A93 road between Glen Shee, Perthshire, and Braemar, Aberdeenshire, in the Scottish Highlands. The border between the two counties crosses the summit of the pass. With a sum ...

( A93 - highest main road pass in Britain,

Glen Shee Glen Shee () is a glen in eastern Perthshire, Scotland. Shee Water flows through the glen. The head of the glen, where Gleann Taitneach and Glen Lochsie meet, is approximately 2 km north-west of the Spittal of Glenshee; it then runs ...

ski centre). Here, a high undulating plateau invaded by deep

glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

troughs (Glen Isla, Glen Callater, Glen Muick, Glen Clova) culminates in Glas Maol (1068m /3504') on the main watershed, with the outlying granite

Lochnagar Lochnagar or is a mountain in the Mounth, in the Grampians of Scotland. It is about south of the River Dee near Balmoral. It is a popular hill with hillwalkers, and is a noted venue for summer and winter climbing. Names The English nam ...

(1155m/3789') and its surrounding "White Mounth". To the east the plateau broadens into a lower moorland incised by river valleys, notably Glen Esk and

Glen Tanar Glen Tanar ( gd, Gleann Tanar) is a glen in Aberdeenshire, eastern Scotland, through which the Water of Tanar flows. Near the mouth of the glen, at Tower o' Ess, the Water of Tanar flows into the River Dee. This flows through Deeside into t ...

, descending gently east to

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

coastal cliffs between

Stonehaven Stonehaven ( , ) is a town in Scotland. It lies on Scotland's northeast coast and had a population of 11,602 at the 2011 Census. After the demise of the town of Kincardine, which was gradually abandoned after the destruction of its royal cast ...

and

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 ...

. This is the best-preserved expanse of the ancient Highland pre-glacial upland surface. The Mounth is thus bounded by Blairgowrie,

Braemar Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, around west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. It is the closest significantly-sized settlement to the upper course of the River Dee sitting at an elevation of . The Gaelic ''Bràigh Mhàrr'' prop ...

, Ballater,

Banchory Banchory (, sco, Banchry, gd, Beannchar) is a burgh or town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is about west of Aberdeen, near where the Feugh River meets the River Dee. Prehistory and archaeology In 2009, a farmer discovered a short cist ...

, Stonehaven, and

Kirriemuir Kirriemuir, sometimes called Kirrie or the ''Wee Red Toon'' ( gd, An Ceathramh Mòr; IPA: nˈkʰʲɛɾəvmoːɾ, is a burgh in Angus, Scotland. It reaches back to earliest recorded times, when it is thought to have been a major ecclesiastical ...

, and comprises eastern Highland

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

, the

Angus Glens The Five Glens of Angus are the five Highland glens located in the western portion of the Angus region of Scotland. The five glens from westernmost to easternmost are: *Glen Isla *Glen Prosen * Glen Clova *Glen Lethnot * Glen Esk Glen Clova i ...

, and southern Aberdeenshire. The higher parts are within the

Cairngorms National Park Cairngorms National Park ( gd, Pàirc Nàiseanta a' Mhonaidh Ruaidh) is a national park in northeast Scotland, established in 2003. It was the second of two national parks established by the Scottish Parliament, after Loch Lomond and The Tro ...

. Historically The Mounth was a formidable barrier which, to some extent, isolated the northeast of Scotland from the

Scottish Lowlands The Lowlands ( sco, Lallans or ; gd, a' Ghalldachd, , place of the foreigners, ) is a cultural and historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Lowlands and the Highlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowl ...

, physically and culturally. In the

Middle Ages 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 a ...

an ancient roadway known as the

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 ...

was built to connect Stonehaven to Aberdeen using an elevated rock

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tra ...

design to penetrate this boggy area of the eastern Mounth. This route was by way of

Cowie Castle Cowie Castle is a ruined fortress in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The site lies at the northern end of Stonehaven on the North Sea coast. To the immediate south is the Cowie Bridge crossing of the Cowie Water. Evidence of prehistoric man exists i ...

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 ...

Portlethen Moss The Portlethen Moss is an acidic bog nature reserve located to the west of the town of Portlethen, Aberdeenshire in Scotland. Like other Bog, mosses, this wetland area supports a variety of plant and animal species, even though it has been subjec ...

and the

Bridge of Dee The Bridge of Dee or Brig o Dee ( gd, Drochaid Dhè) is a road bridge over the River Dee in Aberdeen, Scotland. The term is also used for the surrounding area of the city. Dating from 1527,Richards, J.M., ''The National Trust Book of Bridges ...

. The route was that taken by

Earl Marischal The title of Earl Marischal was created in the Peerage of Scotland for William Keith, the Great Marischal of Scotland. History The office of Marischal of Scotland (or ''Marascallus Scotie'' or ''Marscallus Scotiae'') had been hereditary, held by ...

and the

Marquess of Montrose A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

when they led a

Covenanter Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covenan ...

army of 9000 men in the first battle of the

Wars of the Three Kingdoms The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of related conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, then separate entities united in a pers ...

in 1639.

Crossings of the Mounth

There are numerous historic crossings of the Mounth, including: *

or Cowie Mounth, between Bridge of Cowie near Stonehaven and the

. *

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 ...

or Netherley Road, from Stonehaven to Drum, followed by the modern B979 road * The Slug Road, from Stonehaven to Durris, followed by the modern

A957 road The A957 road, commonly called the Slug Road,( /slɒxk/; Scottish Gaelic: An Sloc), is a two lane paved public roadway in Aberdeenshire, Scotland connecting Stonehaven to the A93 road near Crathes after crossing the River Dee, Aberdeenshire o ...

* Cryn's Cross Mounth, from

Laurencekirk Laurencekirk (, sco, Lowrenkirk, gd, Eaglais Labhrainn), colloquially known as "The Lang Toun" or amongst locals as simply "The Kirk", is a small town in the historic county of Kincardineshire, Scotland, just off the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen ...

to Mills of Drum *The Stock Mounth, from

Glenbervie Glenbervie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Gleann Biorbhaidh'', Scots: ''Bervie'') is located in the north east of Scotland in the Howe o' the Mearns, one mile from the village of Drumlithie and eight miles south of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire. The river ...

to Strachan *Builg Mounth, from Glenfarquhar to

Deeside Deeside ( cy, Glannau Dyfrdwy) is the name given to a predominantly industrial conurbation of towns and villages in Flintshire and Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the ...

Cairnamounth Cairn O' Mounth/Cairn O' Mount ( gd, Càrn Mhon) is a high mountain pass in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The place name is a survival of the ancient name for what are now the Grampian Mountains, earlier called "the Mounth" (in Gaelic: "monadh", meani ...

or Cairn O' Mounth, from

Fettercairn Fettercairn (, gd, Fothair Chàrdain) is a small village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, northwest of Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire on the B966 from Edzell. Fettercairn is also reached via the Cairn O' Mount road (B974) from Deeside. The name ...

to Kincardine o' Neill, followed by the modern B974 road *Fungle Road or Forest of Birse Mounth, from Glen Esk to

Aboyne Aboyne ( sco, Abyne, gd, Abèidh) is a village on the edge of the Highlands in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the River Dee, approximately west of Aberdeen. It has a swimming pool at Aboyne Academy, all-weather tennis courts, a bowling green and ...

via the

Forest of Birse The Forest of Birse is a remote upland area in the upper catchment of the Water of Feugh, which forms the south-western portion of the Parish of Birse, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It also forms the western part of the community of Finzean, but has ...

*Firmounth, from Glen Esk to Glen Tanar *Keenmounth, from Innermarkie to Deeside over the shoulder of

Mount Keen Mount Keen ( gd, Monadh Caoin) is a 939 m (3,081 feet) high mountain in Scotland and the most easterly Munro. It can be accessed from several directions, South from Glen Mark, North from Glen Tanar, and East to Braid Cairn. It is a moderate ...

*Capel Mounth, from Glen Clova to Glen Muick *Tolmounth or Jock's Road, from Glen Doll to Glen Callater *Monega Pass, from Glen Isla to Glen ClunieA. Graham, "The Military Road from Braemar to the Spital of Glen Shee, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Volume 97, 1963-4 *Carnvalage or Cairnwell Road, from Gleann Beag to Glen Clunie, over the Devil's Elbow, and followed by the modern A93 road

Name and etymology

Details

Crossings of the Mounth

References

See also