Leith Hall Policies, Kenneth's Mount
Mound (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Leith Hall Policies, Kenneth's Mount
Classification Mound (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Kennethmont Manse
Canmore ID 17665
Site Number NJ52NW 27
NGR NJ 54101 29200
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/17665
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Kennethmont
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ52NW 27 5407 2918.
'Kenneth's Mount' is the name of a hillock, at the back of the manse (NJ 541 291) from the popular belief that King Kenneth had a residence there. This reputed residence is said to have given the parish its name.
A Jervise 1875-9.
Centred NJ 5407 2918, the amorphous remains of an extensive mound greatly mutilated by quarrying and cut by a modern track on its N side, making classification impossible. No longer known locally by the name 'Kenneth's Mount'.
Visited by OS (RL) 20 September 1967.
This amorphous tree- and grass-grown mound, which is situated 60m N of the manse at Kennethmont, is likely to be largely of natural origin. It stands 1.5m high but its original diameter can no longer be determined; it has probably been truncated by ploughing on the N, where an old field-boundary skirts the base of the mound, and it also appears to have been dug into from the S, where what is probably an old sand-pit almost bisects the mound. Furthermore, part of the mound is probably composed of field-cleared stones. A modern clearance cairn, measuring about 8m in diameter and 1.2m in height, is situated about 30m E of the mound, on the opposite side of the path that runs between Kennethmont village and Leith Hall (NJ52NW 4.00).
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 7 November 2000.
Field Visit (June 2006)
Very overgrown mound no visible structure to the make-up.
The identification of Kenneth’s Mount in this location seems open to question. The Old Statistical Account of Scotland 1791-99 (vol 13, 69) very clearly associated the name with local traditions that a Scots king Kenneth had been “buried on the mount, where the church was built”. This association of the name with the old church and burial ground continues in the New Statistical Account of 1834-45. It is apparently only following Jervise in 1875-9 that the name is associated with a hillock at the back of the manse. The confusion may easily be understood as c 1794 the old manse which appears to have been near the old kirk was replaced by a new manse which still stands today. The old kirk and graveyard are indeed on a hillock behind the apparent site of
the old manse. While the details of an association with king Kenneth are legend it is interesting that the church mound as a small prominent mound near a burn could be regarded as a potential motte site and can legitimately be regarded as having medieval association.
(LEI06 057)
Information from NTS (SCS) November 2013
