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The Houff
Burial Ground (17th Century) - (18th Century), Crannog (Prehistoric)(Possible), Fort (Medieval)(Possible), Motte (Medieval)(Possible)
Site Name The Houff
Classification Burial Ground (17th Century) - (18th Century), Crannog (Prehistoric)(Possible), Fort (Medieval)(Possible), Motte (Medieval)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Auchenhove Houff; Auchinhove
Canmore ID 17500
Site Number NJ50SE 4
NGR NJ 5502 0297
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/17500
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Lumphanan
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ50SE 4 5502 0297.
(NJ 5502 0297) The Houff (Disused Burial Ground) (NAT)
OS 6" map, (1959)
At one time the Houff was 'a place of strength' with traces of ancient buildings (still visible) and the remains of a well (Fraser 1929) and surrounded by an incomplete dry moat.
New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845; G M Fraser 1929.
A small artificial hillock, with no appearance of a surrounding moat, perhaps at one time a small fort or peel. It was the private burial gound of the Duguids of Auchinhove between 1634 and 1755 (ONB 1867),
but was being quarried for sand in 1966 (SDD 1963).
Name Book 1867; SDD 1963.
The Houff is a small natural hillock of sand and gravel, partly destroyed by quarrying. On its summit are the remains of two rectangular structures. One of these measures 7.7m by 4.2m internally with walls 1.1m thick, surviving to a maximum height of 1.0m. The other is mostly destroyed by the quarrying, so that only the N wall 11.5 m long, the E wall c 8.0m long, and c 2.0m of the W wall remain. The wall is 1.7m maximum height and 0.8m thick, and is roughly coursed, with rubble in-fill, and bonded with a poor sandy mortar.
No features are visible on these structures to enable dating or classification, but they are possibly small mausoleums of the 17th century burial ground.
There is no trace of a moat, and the mound appears too small to be a motte.
Parts of three skeletons and of a coffin were found in the quarried spoil by Mr Fenton Wyness in 1965. They are now in Marischal College Museum.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (AA) 4 December 1968; Information from Mr Fenton Wyness, 45 Salisbury Terrace, Aberdeen.
Listed as motte.
P A Yeoman 1988.
Classified by GRC/AAS as ringwork and cemetery.
NMRS, MS/712/17.
Excavation (27 July 2015 - 28 July 2015)
NJ 55057 02983 This work was carried out, 27–28 July 2015, as part of a wider project investigating crannogs in NE Scotland and forms a large part of the author’s PhD research. The Houff is a mound, c45 x 32m, located within a wide basin formerly occupied by Loch Auchlossan. The loch was partially drained in the late 17th century with final drainage of the loch coming in 1868. The shore of the former loch can be postulated at c145m ODN based on historical accounts of the former extent of the loch. This is supported by the recorded archaeology here, where no site within this proposed shoreline dates to before the 18th century, with the exception of The Houff and another site (NJ50SE 21), interpreted as a trackway at the margin of the former loch c200m away (DES 1989).
The site was surveyed using a DGPS to take random individual points with associated height data across The Houff and surrounding fields. A digital elevation model was then created using this data. The survey collected 1100 data points and shows that the top of The Houff is at 146m ODN, making it a small island prior to the lowering and subsequent drainage of Loch Auchlossan.
It was suspected on the basis that The Houff was a small island within the former loch that it may be an artificial island, rather than a fort or motte as recorded in the Canmore database and the Aberdeenshire SMR. To test if the mound was artificial, a single 2.8 x 1m trench was opened on the N side of the mound. This trench revealed that the mound is indeed artificial, composed entirely of an anthropogenic soil, probably best described as a dark earth with sub-angular cobbles throughout. This deposit was sitting atop a sterile deposit of coarse sand which has been interpreted as being the hard geology under the former loch. Charcoal samples from the excavation have been analysed and show that charred wood fragments from lower reaches of mound are almost entirely alder.
The result of the excavation is a strong case for re-classifying The Houff as a crannog.
Archive: Aberdeenshire SMR (deposited) and National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE)
Funder: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
(Source: DES, Volume 16)
