mormond history study

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Andrew David Sturdy Culture & History StudyWaughton & Mormond Hill

December 2011

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Culture & History StudyWaughton and Mormond Hill

Buchan, Aberdeenshire

Illustration and Tables

Fig.1 Terrain & 1:50 000 OS map Fig.11 Religious Centre Fig.2 Robert Gordon map 1640 Fig.12 Inscribed Stone?Fig.3 1st Edition OS map 1760 Fig.13 Fount StoneFig.4 Aberdeenshire SMR & RCAHMS Fig.14 Earthwork 1760 Strichen Estate Plan Fig 5 Geology map Fig.15 Comparison between 1st Ed OS and 1760 Estate

planFig.6 Area Views Fig.16 Causeway looking west from Cairn 12 areaFig.7 Resting Cairn Fig.17 Causeway. Looking east from Cairn 12 areaFig.8 Admiralty Chart of Scotland 1842 Fig.18 Causeway. Looking east from Cairn 13 areaFig.9 John Ainslie map 1789 Fig. 19 Mormond Dead

Fig.10 Baldwin & Cradock’s map 1834

Location

56km N of Aberdeen and 8km S ofFraserburgh in the county of Aberdeenshire.

Contents

Location 1Introduction 2Site Report 3Discussion 6Summary 14Bibliography 14




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Introduction

Dr. J.F. Tocher humanises Mormond Hill when he wrote, „standing as sentry over Buchan‟ in hisintroduction to the Book of Buchan 1910. His observation was probably based on his own extensiveknowledge of local history, and his statement suggest that he was well aware of the strategic importancethe Hill had once played in the defence of these shores. However, modern interpretations, if any can be

found, have now dehumanised the Hill to such a degree that the archaeological sites on it, demoted to thelowest archaeological common denominator, have been disengaged from local folk law, tradition andculture. The reason why the sites interpretation has changed so dramatically may be a reflection of thechanging social and economic condition of the local population, and their experience and understanding ofthe immediate world around them. Therefore to gain an understanding of the contribution that thislandscape has made and continues to make on Buchan, Aberdeenshire and the history of Scotland,modern interpretations should be waylaid in favour of those recorded through historic documents, maps,local history and language.

Fig.3. 1870 1st edition OS map

Fig2. Robertus Gordonius a

Strathloch describebat 1640.

Note the spelling of

Mormond. Many attempts

made to Gealicsied this name

but seen here in its Welsh

(old British) translation

meaning Sea Hill. (Aberdour

and Aberdeen may also have

similar origins).




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Site Report

Table.1No Index Name Description SMR Additional Interpretation

1 NJ95NE0001 Find spot Two flint arrowheads found hereunder a suspected cairn (nowdestroyed)

Evidence of human activity

2 NJ95NE0021 Hill Figure White Horse cut from hillside andbacked filled with white quarts.Thought to commemorate a fallenSergeant of Capt Fraser (LordStrichen‟s & Lovat) who fell atBattle of Gilzen in 1794.

The horse is similar to other figures inthe south of Britain. The war memorialstory is one of many and its trueorigins are a subject of debate. Local19

thcentury historians credited its

function as a Landmark to aid maritimenavigation and this appears to be the

most plausible reason.3 NJ95NE0020 Standing

Structure.HuntingLodge

Two storey rubble built building.Now a shell. Inscribe slab centreon south wall reads-„In this/ Hunter's Lodge/RobGibb/Commands/MDCCLXXIX‟.Rob Gibb was Charles II's jester.

Believe built by Capt Fraser . The date1779 may be year of construction asthe building is not on the 1760 estateplan. A toast to Rob Gibb is thought tohave Jocobite origins.

4 NJ95NE0004 RestingCairn

Cairn; 17.0m in diameter and1.5m high, prominently situatedon a spur of Mormond Hill; somelarge stones around thecircumference, particularly in theNE arc, may be kerb-stones, butmost appear to be disturbed. BA,

Locally known as Resting Cairn for it isbelieved to have been the place to restcoffins on their way from Strichenalong the Corpse Road to RathenChurch. Its construction iscontemporary with the Bronze Age andthe building material of quarts makes itmore likely that it was also used as amaritime marker of that period.




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No Index Name Description SMR Additional Interpretation

5 Recordedwith number6 Hunt Stone

Fount Stone A rectangular dressed graniteblock amongst a small scatteringof smaller rocks.

Often confused with the Hunt Stonethe Fount Stone is below that stonenext to a track and near to a spring. Itsname suggests outside worship andderives from the act of baptism. Apossible pagan ritual site it may havebeen Christianised in the 7th century atthe time of St Eddren‟s Hermitage alsoon Mormond Hill. May have fallen outof use after 1627 when Strichenreceived its own parish church and nolonger requiring Rathen‟s.

6 NJ95NE0023 Hunt Stone A prominent earthstone semisubmerged on the upper westernslope of Mormond Hill.

The name suggests that this was aplace to meet before Hunting. It isknown to predate the Hunting lodge (3)for it appears on the 1760 estate map.The name „hunt‟ may be a corruptionof its original name and if ever realised

it may present a different interpretationof its function.7 NJ95NE0022 Hill Figure Stag hill figure cut from hillside

and backed filled with whitequarts.

Commissioned by Mr F W Cordiner ofCortes Estate, near Fraserburgh, as awedding gift to his bride in 1870.

8 NJ95NE0051 Eye Stone A large glacial boulder that hastraditionally been used as aboundary stone.

Often suggested that it got its namefrom its eye-shape form. But suchnamed stones are known as places ofhealing and named after the part of thebody they cured. However, on the1768 estate map it is marked „Eenstone‟. Een the language of Buchan,Doric, means numerical „One‟. Or

when pronounce „eyes‟. Why it wouldbe called „One Stone‟ or plural „Eyes‟ isat present unknown. May have beenan Observatory.

9,10,11

NJ95NE0052NJ95NE0053NJ95NE0054

BoundarystoneWaughtonHill

Dressed boundary stone; stillstanding, which is depicted on the1867 1st edition OS map.

The Parish Boundary was made in1627 however it may have been tracedonto existing estate lines. None of thestones appear on the 1760 estate mapbut their location near or on theearthwork causeway that is depicted,suggest they mark the route of thiscauseway.

12,

13,14

NJ95NE0055

NJ95NE0070NJ95NE0056

Cairn,

destroyed

Site of a now destroyed cairn that

is depicted on the 1867 1st editionOS map

The cairn‟s function on the landscape

is linked to the period of theirconstruction. They may be BA butmost probable were markers for theroute along this ridge, and may becotemporary or pre-date the CorpseRoad and utilised as lych-stone to restcoffins; they may have been places ofinterment. Placing a cairn over acorpse was thought to stop the spiritwondering home.

15 NJ95NE0072 StandingStructure

Tropospheric Scatter RelayStation

Site of Cold War NATO early-warningradio station to detect missile attacks.Station No.44. Radar dishes now

removed but underground complexremains. Now used by commercialtelecommunication companies andcontains a compound of radio masts.




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No Index Name Description SMR Additional Interpretation

16, NJ95NE0068 Cairn,destroyed

Site of a now destroyed cairn thatis depicted on the 1867 1st editionOS map

May be linked to Number 17

17, NJ95NE0024 StandingStructureNowdestroyed

Clearing and reputed site of aHermitage known as St Eddren‟s

St Eddren (St Ethren) was a 7t

century monk/missionary. Rathen‟s oldchurch is dedicated to him. Died 3

rd

December 669AD18,19,20

NJ95NE0067NJ95NE0066NJ95NE0065



Marker stones that appear to mark theroute from St Eddren‟s Hermitage (17)and his church in the settlement ofRathen, known as St Eddren‟s Slack.(Slack meaning a climbing hill track)

21,22,23,24

NJ95NE0057NJ95NE0058NJ95NE0059NJ95NE0060



Marker stones that appear to markroute from Waughton Hill or Eye Stoneto a settlement at Number 25. Mayhave once been called Forrest Slack.

25 NJ95NE0030 Farmsteaddestroyed

Farmstead depicted on 1867 OSmap shows u-shape steading

opening to the east.

One of many farmsteads along thenorth face of the Hill. The shape may

point to the agricultural improvementsof the 19th

century.26,27,




Numbers 26, 27 Stones and Numbers28, 29, 30 Cairns may be linked tomark route of Green Slack.

28,29,30


Cairn,destroyed

Site of a now destroyed cairn thatis depicted on the 1867 1st editionOS map

See above.

31 NJ95NE0025 Naturalfeature

King‟s Seat hunting viewpoint. Traditionally a hunting viewpoint of aScottish King (more likely Ri Alban,„King of Alban‟ the title used byMormaers of Moray). Its spelling

indicates its historical age for being acommon area it has retained itsTeutonic spelling, unlike, the nearbyhouse on King‟s Field, which has beenGealicsied to Mains of Auchries.

32 NJ95NE0002 Find spot Site of find spot of flintarrowheads found in 1857 duringland improvements. Now missing.

Evidence of human activity dateunknown, may be assumedcontemporary with BA Resting Cairn.

33 NJ95NE0038 StandingStructure,Well,destroyed

Janet Lamb‟s Well named on the1867 OS map.

May have been named after a localwoman. Date unknown but could berelated to pilgrims on St Eddren‟sSlack as it appears next to this route.

34 Not

Recorded

Earthwork Howe Rig, marked on 1857 and

modern OS maps

Rig and furrow are evidence of

cultivation that may span centuries.The date of this feature is not knownbut may be contemporary with earlysettlement during BA.

35 Not recorded Earthwork / Dam

Not recorded on SMR as afeature. Shown on SMR map at apoint where a drain ditch runs intoa natural water course and backto a drain ditch. A spring is alsoshown upstream of it.

Could be a natural feature that hasbeen utilised to dam this spot toprovide a head of water for a millfurther down the hill side. The springmay have a connection with the Fountstone (5)




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Discussion

The sites across Mormond Hill‟s summit share a common function in that they are all markers on thelandscape. As markers they may be further subdivided into three types; distant navigation landmark, localnavigation landmark and ritual landmark. Much will depend on the period in question to which „type‟ eachsite is assigned, for the sites interpretation changes as their function changes to reflect the circumstances

of the people at any given time. It maybe a reflection on our own time and circumstance that landscapeslike Mormond Hill are being interpreted with greater emphasis on their land-value in momentary terms, andtheir cultural meaning and value is often reduced to a list of sites on a database‟s (fig.4). Such lists areoften incomplete and may not provide a satisfactory format to an inquisitor on their historic landscape.

RCHMS Aberdeenshire SMR Blue dots represent recorded sites

Fig.4

A fresh interpretation is needed that is deduced from all available evidence on the sum of the landscapesarchaeological sites on Mormond Hill. But before meaning and function can be assigned to what these sites

were, the question needs to be addressed „why are they here?

To answer this question the geology and topography of the Hill needs to be examined. In geological termsMormond Hill‟s solitary bulk is called an Inselburgh, (German for Island Mountain). Its formation was by theprocess of extreme pressure and heat being exerted onto sandstone transforming it into hard solid quartz.The land surrounding this quartz would have at one time been level with its summits, but through millions ofyears of wind, rain and glacial erosion, these softer surrounding rocks have been eaten away exposing thehill feature we see today. (fig.5)

Fig.5




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Just like Ayres Rock, Australia‟s famous Inselburgh, these features on the landscape continue to captivatethe human imagination and are often personified into symbols of cultural identity. Such features havealways attracted human activity and the probability of some of the earliest archaeology in Scotland beingcited on Mormond Hill is high.

To stress the significance of Mormond Hill‟s bearing on the psyche of its people, fig.6 shows computer

generated views from point around its periphery. It also demonstrates how a simple Desk Study of a mapmay fail to relay a sense of place.

A : Peterhead B: St Fergus

C : Rattray D : St Combs

E : Fraserburgh F: Abordour

G : New Pitsligo H : Adziel HillFig.6 Distant views generated using Memory Map OS edition computer software.




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When viewed on a map the Hill could be interpreted as being at the hub with the northeast coastlinerunning along its rim. Such a view would be accurate if the Hill was an observatory, but when the hill isviewed from out at sea along that rim, its value as a landmark is clearly evident. What is not clear is whysuch a hill appears to have never been utilised for occupation and fortified, like so many other hills acrossAberdeenshire in the Iron Age. This may be interpreted that either the people were so strong that they hadno need of a fort, or that the hill was sacred; revered or feared?

The answer may lay with the earliest known manmade site on Mormond Hill, a Bronze Age cairn knownlocally as the Resting Cairn. Made from the composite material of the hill, the reflective qualities of thequartz and its size would have made it visible from a great distance. These facts may yet substantiate aritual interpretation concerning the hills pre-history. (fig.7)

Fig.7 Resting Cairn

However, the Resting Cairn is also a good example of how social and economic circumstances havechanged the way sites may be interpreted at any given point in time. Its latest manifestation on a recentarchaeological Walking Survey by a developer was simply, „A Cairn‟, an interpretation which devalues it toa commodity. But it is still regarded by locals as the „Resting Cairn‟ and is associated with being the spotwhere coffins were rested on the Corpse Road from Strichen to St Eddren's Church Rathen, (this will beexpanded on later). It looks likely though that this cairn adopted that name sometime in the past 250 years,and it became a symbol to represent the ancient Corpse Road that ran a short distance behind it. Thistheory has been deduced on the cairn being named „Big Cairn‟ on the 1760 Strichen Estate map, a mapthat depicts many other stones by their local name, and is unlikely to have misrepresented this one.

Being called „Big Cairn‟ it may suggest that there were either smaller cairns nearby, or its size wasextraordinary in scale. The scale may indicate the stature of those entombed beneath it, but it is obvious

that this structure was meant to be seen, and seen from a great distance.

This puts the Resting Cairn in the same „Type‟ of distance landmark as the much later Hunting Lodge andWhite Horse Hill figure. Although this was useful as a landmark for land travellers, another group oftravellers would have seen them as a „life-saver‟, were the mariners.

Fig.8 Admilraty Chart 1842




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The area of coast east of Mormond Hill between St Combs and Fraserburgh is known as Rattray Briggsand is a traitorous stretch of shallow water harbouring a reef of razor sharp rocks. Its notoriety has beenpassed down through the local oral tradition with the saying, “Keep Mormond Hill a handspike high , And Rattray Brigs you'll not come nigh .” (Fig.8)

The prominence of Mormond hill as a nautical landmark is often overlooked by modern observers of

antiquity in their cars. But Mormond Hill once held a monumental place not only in Scottish history, but inthe history of Britain. For in the 18th century it was interpreted, and given the accolade, as the battle siteMons Graupius, a battle around 84AD between the Romans under Agricola and the Caledonians or Free-British under Calgacus, (the precursor of the Pictish nation). Why this battle became so important to Britishhistorians of this century, is that although the Caledonians lost they were not defeated, only separated fromthe other British tribes in the south until the act of union in 1707AD reunited them.

Fig.9 John Ainslie 1789

Considering that three times before the NE has provided the battle field that decided the fate of Scotland;Macbeth‟s army was crushed at Lumphanan by Malcolm with the assistance of an Anglo -Saxon army in1056, Bara in 1308 saw King Robert I defeat the Earl of Buchan and destroying the Comyn‟s claim to thecrown, and Harlaw in 1411 when the nobles of Aberdeen halted Donald the 2nd Lord of the Isle ambition inbecoming King of Scotland. So it was natural to assume considering its location and topography, such anation forging battle took place here.

To date, archaeology has been unable to substantiate the Mons Graupius claim, but with recent discoverieslike those found at Rynie that demonstrates interaction with the Roman Empire, and a growing interest inthis period of Scottish history, it may do so yet.

One thing that is known to have arrived from the Roman World on Mormond Hill was Christianity.

It is thought that Christianity may have come to Scotland as early as the second century via refugeesfleeing Persecution from the Roman Empire. The first recorded missionary in Buchan was St Ninian whomay have travelled through Aberdeenshire from the mission he set up at Withorn in 396 or 397AD. It is

Fig.10Baldwin & Cradock 1834




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assumed he set up a religious settlement at Andet in Methlick near a well also called St Ninian ‟s Well; andmay have built the church, now destroyed, at Tyrie know as the White Church of Buchan which resembledhis White Church at Whithorn.

If proven, this puts Mormond Hill on a transit route between Methlic and Tyrie that incorporates other earlyChristian Celtic sites like Aberdour, Old Deer, Rathen, St Combs, Longmay and Rattery. This may also

explain why there are so many slacks (tracks) incorporating cairns and earthstones up the gentler northernslopes and flanks of the Hill; for the Hill is an obvious focal point serving as a communal gatherings placefor religious and secular events.

Fig.11 Religious centre

No investigation has been carried out to ascertain if these cairns and stones are contemporary with thearrival of Christianity or came later, or even much earlier. Considering that St Colm‟s at Daviot and St.Manire‟s at Crathie were built on the sites of standing stone circles, and that often Christian sites wereadopted from pagan sites, there is every reason to assume that these tracks could be very ancient indeed.

Fig. 12 Inscribe Stone?A possible inscribed stone depicting a Christian Valknut or Triquetra symbol inside a circle. Waughton Hill. Location withheld by the

author until clarification.




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It is interesting then that the Fount Stone (fig.13) which stands in a natural amphitheatre near the top of theHill, receives little recognition today, and is often confused with the Hunt Stone that stands a little wayabove it. Its modern SMR interpretation, „maybe a place where baptism took place‟, is more a reflection ofthe decline of Christianity in current society than a statement of function. It should be emphasised thatbefore the move of the Celtic Church to adopt the Church of Rome ‟s doctrine in the 12th century, along with

the introduction of buildings to house congregations, all communal religious festivals would have beenconducted in the open air in much the same way as the pagan people used sacred groves (nemeton).

Fig.13 Fount Stone

The Fount Stone then continues the suggestion of a ritual landscape, and this is borne out by two othersites to the north of it, St Eddren‟s Hermitage and St Eddren‟s Slack.

St Eddren (also known as the St Ethren) appears to have been a member of a noble Pictish family. Hisassociation with Mormond Hill and the surrounding area runs deep, for not only is his hermitage on the hillbut the ancient track that runs between it and Rathen‟s Church of which he is patron, is called St Eddren‟sSlack. One tradition tells the story of how he became befriended by a deer that continued to live outside hishermitage until his death in 669AD; his feast day is 3rd December. The reason why almost 1200 years laterin 1870 the local laird had the figure of a Stag cut into the hill as a wedding gift for his bride, on this side ofthe Hill, may have something to do with this story.

The act of baptism leaves little evidence on the landscape, but the act of burial leaves plenty. It is theobservance of Christian burial that may hold the key to interpreting Mormond‟s Hill most intriguing site, theearthwork shown on the 1760 estate plan. (fig.14)

Fig.14 Earthwork 1760 Strichen Estate Plan




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This feature runs from west to east across the summit of the saddle and roughly 1km parallel to thesouthern ridge line of the, Hunting Lodge, White Horse and Resting cairn. Archaeological evaluation maydetermine the age of this feature (or even if it exists), but such features are not common in this part ofBritain. If contemporary with the Resting Cairn it may be a cursus. If later it could be a political boundarylike Offa‟s Dyke between England and Wales or Scot‟s Dike between England and Scotland, on a smallerscale. But considering the whole area was under the remit of the Mormaer‟s and Earl‟s of Buchan, there

would have been no need for such a physical political statement. What is most likely is that this earthworkis the remains of a causeway that use to be used as the Corpse Road between Strichen and Rathenmention earlier. (Fig. 15)

Fig.15 Comparison between 1st edition OS map and 1760 Estate plan




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It is difficult to trace the feature on the ground today, but it may be assumed that it either follows themodern parish boundary line, that is so distinguishable due to recent land-use with the northern side asheath land for game bird shooting, and the southern as grassed moorland. But there is a linear feature inthe heather 10m to the north of this boundary approximately 3-4m wide that warrants investigation. (Fig. 16,17, 18)

Fig.16 Causeway. Looking east from Waughton Hill to Mormond Hill.

Fig.17 Causeway. Lokking west from area of Cairn No.12

Fig.18 Causeway. Looking east from area of Cairn No.13

The evidence that this was the Corpse Road is in its description by Andrew Jervise FSA Scot:

“The inhabitants (Strichen) long continued to bury their dead at Rathen, and some of the lych- stones, or boulders, which were used resting coffins upon, when being conveyed to the churchyard, still stand by the side of the old road which leads to Rathen, through between the hills of Mormond (Epitaphs, i.136). These stones were named from the Anglo- Saxon word lie or lyce, ‘a dead body or corpse.’’

The numerous earthstones and cairns along this causeway strongly suggest that this was the route of the

Corpse Road. The reason why it were needed is that Strichen, moderately populated throughout historyevident in the many crop marks and finds of funeral urns of the beaker type as well as its Recumbent stonecircle, did not have its own church until 1627AD. (Note: Strichen is mention in a charter 1206AD by Ferguslast Celtic Mormaer of Buchan calling it Crux Medici (Cross of the Doctors). If it had been religious




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settlement as suggested by Watt when he wrote of Strichen parish being gifted to the monks of Arbroath, itvanishes around the time of the construction of Deer Abbey around 1218. Therefore Strichen, in the parishof Rathen had to burry its dead on the opposite side of Mormond Hill and had little choice but to negotiatethe hill.)

However, when times were particularly bleak, as with the great famines in Aberdeenshire of 1695 and

1699, the living had not strength or inclination to observe burial rites, and the comment on the 1760 Estatemap which reads “Place were three men has been buried” next to the causeway indicates the practise of disposing of bodies in the peat bogs instead of continuing on their goulash journey.

Fig.19

Summary

The Corpse road is still recited in the oral tradition of the area and the Resting cairn as already explainedcould be a memorial to it. But with no interpretation in the modern medium, its decline into obscurity is setto continue and is the cause and effect of a landscape and its sites function becoming obsolete. WithStrichen receiving its own parish church in 1627 and the construction of the 18th century road transportnetwork made possible by the drainage of the lowlands, which had traditionally been avoided because of

the bogs there. The trek up and over the hill is no longer needed.

Many people around Mormond Hill today when asked to interpret Mormond Hill will say it is an iconiccultural feature on the Buchan landscape. But asked „why‟, they are often slow to answer. A romantic maysay this proves that landscapes are charged by human emotion, that the ability to know something oninstinct with the absent of reason, is a link to how people of the past must have felt and saw the world.However modern interpretation of this landscape, forged in a secular world, view it as an asset to bedeveloped and exploited.

.

(A quick note bout Forrest that may excite the historian readership is that for many years Mormond Hill wasmarked as the site of the battle of Mons Graupius 86AD. Tacitus writing on the battle said that afterwardsthe Governor of Britain Agricola regrouped for the winter in the land of the Borsett. The Borsett have neverbeen identified but the name has often been associated with Forest and on this tangible evidence Forres inBanffshire has sometimes been credited as the place of the winter camp. Considering the map reference




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and the number of place names, Forest Hill, Forest Slack, Forest mains etc. There may be evidence toconduct further investigation.)

.

St Etheran was a member of a noble Pictish family who founded or came from a monastery on the Isle of

May and is linked to the church at Rathen. He is also thought to have died at his hermitage on MormondHill on 2nd December 668. Up until the general adoption of the church of Rome by the Scottish Royal familyin the 11th century, Christianity in Buchan followed the St. Ninian teachings first introduced into Scotlandaround 396-397AD. This was still within the period of occupation of Rome in central and southern Britainand with the recent excavation and discoveries of extensive roman luxury items at Rynie, the passage ofgoods and the Christian message may well have been voiced on Mormond Hill. Aberdeenshire, Colm:Fergus, Medan, Moluag, Nidan, Marnoch, Serf, Drostan etc. Unlike the later catholic priest and churches,Pictish missionaries usually travelled in pairs walking and teaching as they went. The missionaries taughtthe Picts how to be better farmers and it has also been suggested that water-mill technology was introduceby them.

NameAlthough place names are not archaeology in the sense they do not appear in physical form, they mayprovided insight to the physical archaeology that they are associated with. The survey area consists of twosummits, the higher of which is Waughton Hill. However locally and throughout history the lesser or the twoMormond Hill has given its name to the whole site. The reason why may be explained through its meaningin the language of the past.

There have been many attempts by antiquarians since the 13th century to assign Gaelic meanings to placename throughout the North East. Where Gaelic place names do occur next to Anglo Saxon or Welsh (oldBritain) it points to a period of Gaelic overlord ship. Which did occur in this part of Scotland between therises of xxx xxx 800 to the fall of Macbeth xxxx. This may be seen in the name of King Seat on the northernspur of Mormond Hill, a common area known and used by the common people, where as King‟s Field

which lays beneath it and is now a Mains, had been Gealicsied into Achirie by 1906 and then Auchiries(Irish for Kings Field) as it appears on maps today. Therefore the Gaelic Interpretation of Mormond Hill of„large Moor‟ is questionable especially considering the massive expanse of moor land stretching out fromNew Pitlargo to the North and West.Scottish History Society Volume L1, Macfarlane‟s Geographical Collections Vol.1 Pg 56 April 1906

Its true meaning may lay in the language that pre-dates the Gaelic insurgence, that of the Picts..Unfortunately the Picts did not submit their language to paper, or if they did none of it has survived, so wemay never know its sound. But it has often been surmised that it was closely related to other British Celticlanguages like Cornish and Welsh. In Cornish, Welsh, Breton Mor becomes „Sea‟, and so we get Sea Hill.

Mormond Hill is in fact the collective name for a number of hills forming a ridgeline, the furthest north(Roman east) is known as Waughton Hill.11 Waughton may be a reference to the Hepburns of Waughton,a powerful Middle Ages clan family in East Lothian.12 But until evidence is forthcoming placing them inBuchan they may be discarded. However we find another meaning for Waughton in the language of NEScotland, „Doric‟.Doric is a Germanic based language believed to have been imported into Britain around the 4th centurywith the Saxons. In Old Saxon, Waughton becomes Waugh-ton; by discarding the „ton ‟, meaning a farm,village or enclosure, Waugh becomes Walh (singular) and Walha (plural). In pre 7th century old EnglishWalha was the word used for „foreigner‟, which we still use today as the word „Welsh‟. But in its ancientGermanic guise Walha was the ethnic name used for a tribe of Celts called the „Volcae‟; once the Volcaewere Romanised, Walha (Waugh) became the ethnic name used by the Germanic Saxons for the Romans.




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mormond history study

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