| Whitelums Limousin
Cattle |
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| Whether you like
walks, woodland, of glorious views, you’ll appreciate a visit to Bennachie
- the North East of Scotland’s favourite hill, or to be more correct,
range of hills. Approximately 400 million years ago a massive body of granite magma rose into part of the earth’s crust which gradually cooled and crystallised to form a pink granite. Countless years of weathering sculpted a terrain of massive jagged peaks perhaps two or three times their present height but the last major reshaping of the range began about one million years ago when a huge ice-sheet gouged away substantial quantities of rock, leaving behind a mass measuring about 5 x 8km. Since then frost, wind and rain have completed the re-figuring of the range into what we now recognise as Bennachie.There are six main peaks and numerous minor ones. At the eastern end of Bennachie lies the Mither Tap (518m). It is often regarded as the dominant part of the range by visitors but Oxen Craig (529m), which is almost due west of the Mither Tap, is actually the highest point. Between two of the smaller peaks the distance between them is known as Little John’s Length on account of it being the bed of a legendary friendly giant called Jock o’ Bennachie. It was during the Iron Age that the summit of the Mither Tap was fortified with a granite boulder rampart that follows a circuit of about 200m. The wall is in excess of 20ft thick and still about 14ft high in places, although it could well have been somewhat taller in its heyday. At around the start of the first millennium AD the Romans forced their way north into the Northeast of Scotland. Evidence of the Roman presence in the area was found in 1975 at Logie Durno when a 140 acre camp was discovered.It is possible that the local people sought refuge behind the fortifications of the Mither Tap but it would not be unreasonable to suppose that the superior technology of the invader would have eventually overcome the stone built defensive structure. It has been suggested that the northern slopes of Bennachie was the Mons Graupius, where the Britons were crushingly defeated by the Roman legions, and that the name is the root of the modern term for the region - "Grampian". Some fourteen centuries later in 1411 the lands on the north side of the River Urie and between Bennachie and Inverurie were the setting for the Battle of Harlaw - a bloody conflict between Donald, Lord of the Isles, and Alexander, Earl of Mar (who was supported by the Provost and Baillies of Aberdeen). The battle coincided with the marriage of a young man called Hosie and his betrothed. As news arrived that a band of Highlanders were approaching Harlaw, Hosie left the side of his bride and joined in the fight. Although Hosie was on the victorious side he made the mistake of pursuing the defeated Highlanders too ardently and was captured and was imprisoned in a dungeon in the Hebrides. Some years later he managed to escape and returned home, intending to take the hand of his waiting bride to be - unfortunately it had been assumed that Hosie had died and she married another. The forlorn Hosie died of a broken heart and his kinsmen buried him next to the Rushmill Burn on the northern slope of Bennachie close to a well. From that time on it was known as Hosie’s Well and the waters that rise in it are said to be tears of the broken hearted Hosie. There are a number of walks up and across Bennachie from the four car parks provided around the hill’s perimeter ranging from a mere 1 km in length to a rather arduous 10 km. |
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