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Note
Date 9 June 2015 - 18 May 2016
Event ID 1044604
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Note
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1044604
Entries in the Annals of Ulster for the years AD 680 and AD 693, in both cases referencing sieges of Dun Foither or Fother have been associated on the strength of place-name evidence with the spectacular coastal promontory occupied by Dunottar Castle (Watson 1926, 510-11); a later reference in the Scottish Chronicle alleges the destruction of Opidum Fother by the Vikings (Alcock and Alcock 1992, 267). In 1984 this led Leslie Alcock to excavate an evaluation trench across the earthworks at the NW margin of the promontory. This failed to locate any deposits or artefacts dating from before the late 12th century, and while accepting that the evidence of a small evaluation trench on a promontory that extends to some 1.5ha was hardly conclusive, Alcock went on to consider the possibility that the identification with this promontory was skewed by the presence of the medieval castle. Rather than Dunottar Castle, he raised the possibility that the Annals were referring to the Bowduns promontory, on the opposite side of Castlehaven Bay, overlooking Dunnicaer with its Pictish symbol stones (Atlas No. 3111), which he suggested was an early medieval cult focus. The Bowduns promontory is linked to the mainland by a broad natural gully across a narrow isthmus, and a bank in the bottom of this gully is annotated 'Rampart' in Gothic script on the 1st edition OS 25-inch map (Kincardine 1868, sheet 17.8), an attribution that was omitted from later editions of the maps. Inspection by both the OS and RCAHMS investigators of this bank and a bank extending round the margin of the headland to enclose about 2.6ha suggests they are no more than agricultural boundaries; indeed, the whole of the summit area of the promontory has been cultivated. Comparatively speaking, the rather more spectacular, and naturally defensible promontory occupied by the castle, linked to the coastal cliffs by no more than a narrow spine of rock, is a far more likely position for an early medieval stronghold, and it would be extraordinary if such a site was not occupied in preference to Bowduns.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 18 May 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3112
