Dunnideer

NJ62NW 23 c. 61 28.

See also NJ62NW 1 and NJ62NW 22.

Without the rampart of Dunnideer Fort (NJ62NW 1) can be traced many other buildings round the Abbey Church which is nearly 100 by 40 feet, consecrated to St Valentine, and part of the Abbey of Lindores.

A Laing 1828.

No further information.

Visited by OS (RL) 12 March 1969.

This chapel is first mentioned by Alexander Keith in his 'View of the Diocese of Aberdeen' (1732), which notes the existence of a chapel dedicated to St John 'at Dundore Castle'. For an alternative location see NJ62NW 22.

In the 'Donean Tourist' (1828) Alexander Laing states that an abbey church dedicated to St Valentine stood outwith the ramparts of Dunnideer. It is possible that a chapel may have been associated with the medieval castle on the summit of the hill, but the suggestion that an abbey existed is clearly fantastic. Laing's source of information is unknown, but it is likely to have been a local tradition derived from the fact that the Abbey of Lindores had extensive rights and holdings in the Garioch.. Although the Abbey did hold property in Insch parish, the castle itself appears to have been retained by the Lordship of the Garioch.

Information from RCAHMS (IF), 16 March 2001.

Spalding Club, 1843, Collections for a History of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff, 553.

This site, and others on Dunnideer Hill, was affected by a fire that spread across the grass and exposed archaeological features, including pottery and other materials. Historic Scotland funded a project to assess the damage the fire did to the upstanding archaeology, and any remains exposed by it or the fire brigade's work (they stripped turf in an attempt to contain the spreading fire).

S Badger2006