Summary
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.[1] The highest pass of the route is attained within the Durris Forest.[2] Notable historical structures in the vicinity are Maryculter House, Lairhillock Inn and Muchalls Castle. 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 monoculture with extensive amounts of clearfelling and subsequent replanting.[3]
History edit
Roman legions marched from Raedykes to Normandykes Roman Camp 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. That march used the Elsick Mounth, one of the ancient trackways crossing the Grampian Mountains,[3] lying west of Netherley. To the north the Romans proceeded to the next camp at Ythan Wells.[4]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ W. Douglas Simpson, Proceedings of the Society, published in the United Kingdom, 102, 10 December 1928
- ^ United Kingdom Ordnance Survey Map Landranger 45, Stonehaven and Banchory, 1:50,000 scale, 2004
- ^ a b C. Michael Hogan, Elsick Mounth, Megalithic Portal, ed A. Burnham
- ^ Temporary Roman Marching Camps: Ythan Wells Roman Camp
External links edit
- Photograph of clearfelling along the Elsick Mounth, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
- Article on the Elsick Mounth in Leopard Magazine by Nate Pedersen and Neil Ramsay