Publication Account
Date 17 December 2011
Event ID 923971
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/923971
Two camps are now known at Ythan Wells, close to the source of the River Y than in Strathbogie. The camps, which overlap one another, lie on a fairly level plateau with good views in all directions, and are approximately midway between the camps of Logie Durno and Burnfield.
Camp I was recorded by Captain (later Colonel) Shand in 1785, and planned by T McRonald in 1789 (Newte 1791: 301–2; Stuart 1868: 28); his plan was published by Roy (1793: Pl. LI; also see Crawford 1949: Pl. XX). It is perhaps surprising that, as it was the most northerly camp known for a considerable time (Auchinhove was discovered in 1949, and also see the possible camp at Bellie), it did not become a favoured location of the battle of Mons Graupius, although Haverfield did state that ‘the site agrees ill with the description of the battle of Mons Graupius’ (1914: 9). Macdonald (1916) provides a useful summary of the historical sources for the camp.
The camp lies in arable and improved pasture fields, with parts of its south-west and south-east sides still preserved in field boundaries. Here, the rampart measures some 3.7m in width and up to 0.7m in height. Parts of the north-west, north-east and south-east sides are visible as cropmarks on air photographs. Crawford reported that the whole of the north-west side could be traced on the ground as a stony mound (1949: 120), but little trace of this side survives today beyond a very slight terrace at one point. The camp measures about 805m from north-east to south west by 590m, enclosing an area of some 45.3ha (112 acres). Two of the presumed six tituli are clearly visible as cropmarks: in the northern part of the north-west side and in the centre of the northeast side. The ditches change alignment slightly at both points. Haverfield and Macdonald carried out excavations at the site in 1913, and recorded that the ditch was at least 2.7m wide and at least 1.2m deep on the south-west side, noting that the accompanying rampart must have been some 6m wide, constructed of loose earth and stones, on a bed of clay some 7cm thick. They also recorded that the rampart was still up to 2.3m high in places (on the outside) and probably 5.5m wide. Elsewhere the maximum width of the rampart was 3.6m. They also sectioned one of the tituli on the north-west side and opened up exploratory trenches in the interior (Macdonald 1916: 357–8).
Further excavations were conducted on the camp in 1968 by St Joseph, largely to determine the relationship between it and a second, overlapping camp, discovered from the air that year to the east (1969: 112–13). The ditch of camp I on the north-east side was recorded as V-shaped, measuring about 3.4m in width and almost 1.2m in depth (St Joseph 1970a: 175).
Parts of all four sides of camp II are recorded as cropmarks and the camp measures about 412m from WNW to ESE by about 323m transversely, enclosing some 13.5ha (33 acres). Stracathro-type gates are visible in the north and west sides.
The 1968 excavations established that camp II was earlier than its larger neighbour. The dimensions of the ditch of camp II were very small, measuring some 1.2m in width and barely 0.6m in depth (St Joseph 1970a: 175–7). St Joseph excavated a further fourteen trenches to establish the north ditch of the camp in 1971 (RCAHMS St Joseph Collection: Notebook 6).
R H Jones.
