Cumine's Trench

NJ63NE 1 6528 3997 to 6559 3981

(NJ 6515 4008 and NJ 6573 3968) Cumine's Trench (NR)

OS 6" map, (1959)

'On the far north side of Kirk Hill the Ordnance map marks a ditch one furlong long called 'Cumine's Trench'. (The name no doubt refers to the well-known Aberdeenshire family of that name, but need not have any original significance). I was able to trace the ditch 500ft further at the bottom of the hill (the NW end) and 1000ft on the top (SE end), making a total length of nearly 2200ft. The ditch has been levelled by cultivation, but it is still very wide and must originally have been deep.

There seemed to be the remains of a bank on the SW side, but of this I could not be sure. The NW end of the bank seems to continue across the stream in Owl's Den.....and then to bend round south-wards, but it disappears almost immediately. Before reaching the top of the hill it turns and runs due east for 200ft, on the steepest part of the slope, then resumes its south-easterly direction. It continues over rough ground on the top of the hill, which has been ploughed at some time, and gradually falls into the line of a field boundary which it joins at an obtuse angle; then it is lost. The line of this field boundary is continued, after a gap, by another which after passing a spring, becomes a field track leading to Logie Newton, on the Ythan, 700yards NE of the NE corner of the Roman camp (NJ63NE 2). The whole has the appearance of a defensive line covering the camp; but I am bound to admit that there is nothing in its design that looks at all characteristic of Roman work. It is considerably longer and further from the camp than the linear earthworks at Inchtuthill and Raedykes. Nevertheless,in view of the extreme rarity of such in Scotland, and the proximity of these three to known Roman sites, the possibility that it was made by the Romans should be borne in mind.'

O G S Crawford 1949.

The remains are visible from NJ 6528 3997 to NJ 6559 3981 as a ploughed down shallow hollow averaging about 10.0m wide.

There is no trace of a bank on the SW as suggested by Crawford (1949), nor can the bank be seen crossing the Owl's Den. His suggested south-easterly course is also a matter of conjecture as there is no confirmatory evidence on the ground. The ditch is obviously non-Roman and the manner in which it turns obliquely across the hill-face at its steepest point suggests it is the remains of an old road.

Name still known locally.

Revised at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (ISS) 16 January 1973.