Some history at Muir of Dinnet and nearby (July 2009), and some of the modern artistic responses to it: Just a small selection of the many wonderful sites in this part of Deeside. Photos by Daniel and Clare.

Deeside is particularly rich in visible prehistory. This is a somewhat random sample, but we hope you might find it interesting. There are many many more, of course.

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments in Scotland (RCAHMS) and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) have lots of relevant material available online.

Also, we do recommend Morag1's walk report on Burn O'Vat and Tomnaverie on the WalkHighlands website: towards the end of the report there are some very atmospheric photos of Tomnaverie in evening light.

The sites mentioned on this webpage are very close to the tiny settlement of Ordie. Ordie is in the north of the Muir of Dinnet NNR (National Nature Reserve), and we visited these either on foot or by bike from there.

This area is also fascinating geologically. Loch Kinnord is the centrepiece of the NNR, and is one of many fine glacial features of the area - a shallow loch in a kettlehole. There are good eskers hereabouts, and just near the loch is the Burn o'Vat, an amazing meltwater channel. We're hoping to write that up in due course. Also the wonderfully varied forest all round this area... In some places pine predominates, sometimes it is birch, willows in the wetter places, with an underfloor of bog myrtle, valerian, etc. There is an extensive area of aspen north of Loch Kinnord, and many other species, native and introduced.

It is unusually fertile - much of the Howe of Cromar is farmland, with barley and oats as well as pasture. The grasslands and field edges are lush here. Grasses are lovely things, and they don't get much attention! So as this is rather different from much of the Highlands, here are a few pictures...

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This field is just by the ruined farmhouse north of Loch Kinnord, and still seems to have a mix of rapeseed (or similar) and flax. No aggressive management here, though: the field edges are broad with thistles and foxgloves.

Grasses at Tomnaverie

Other pathside grasses

On the edge of somewhat wilder ground, looking to Mount Keen ..and quite high on the slopes of Morven

Silvery oats The edges of barley fields

A corner of a field near Migvie

Loch Kinnord also has a fantastic Pictish cross slab just above its north shore. It's about 6 feet high, and intricate:

The Pictish cross slab at Loch Kinnord

The slab in context: the Loch is close behind

Loch Kinnord viewed from the slab

There's a much smaller, simpler cross in the graveyard at Kirklands. It's surrounded by an unusual oval recess - rather nice: This is probably also Pictish.

The Kirklands cross-slab - probably Pictish

The Kirklands slab, showing the egg-shaped surround

The lane to the Kirklands graveyard

Woods above Kirklands, above the lane

The view south from Kirklands

Recumbents are a form of monument that is unique to this part of the north-east. These are stone circles, in which there is a principle stone in the outer circle which is lying on its side - the recumbent itself. The top of the recumbent is a large, fairly flat, surface.

Blue Cairn is a recumbent circle which is in the middle of a commercial plantation and is somewhat overgrown, surrounded by high bracken etc., but not hard to get to. There are remains of drystone walling, and the recumbent itself is clearly visible. It is on only a small knoll and the slope continues upwards, so the siting is a bit puzzling.

However, there's a large pile of stones also there, so this could be a combination of a ceremonial cairn and a stone circle.

The recumbent (main) stone at the Blue Cairn stone circle, which is thought to date from about 2,500 B.C.

The cairn (?) inside the stone-circle area

Dry-stone walling - possibly part of a small enclosure or part-enclosure, inside the Blue Cairn circle.

One of the few visible circle-stones at Blue Cairn

But perhaps the most atmospheric prehistoric site in the area is Tomnaverie. This is another recumbent stone circle, but this time on top of a hill. It's been restored and is well maintained, with much still to see. It's not a high hill compared with those around, but it commands long and memorable views.

Here the significance of the recumbent is hinted at by being in line between the centre of the circle and Lochnagar. We can't know, of course, but Lochnagar is such a distinctive feature of the landscape, even at this distance, that it seems quite plausible it had some meaning for the people who built this place. At least the fact that it holds snow and ice for so long in the spring must have been noticed.

The recumbent stone circle at Tomnaverie (also ~2,500 B.C.): Lochnagar is directly behind the recumbent stone when viewed, as here, from the centre of the stone circle

Detail of the Tomnaverie recumbent: the hill in the background is Morven

Looking down the Dee valley from the Tomnaverie recumbents

Tomnaverie

Concentric circles of stones at Tomnaverie

Coming forward in time, somewhat, there are many hut circles - generally around Iron Age, and standing stones. Some of these may also date back to the Stone Age, but some have associations with early Christian saints:

Iron Age hut circles, about 25 yards in diamater. These are northeast of Loch Kinnord, on the nature reserve.

St. Wolloch's stone (7th century or possibly much older?)

The green lane approaching St. Wolloch's stone from the east. There's a large area of wood and open heather between here and the NNR.

The view of Morven from the cemetry adjacent to the stone.

Here, like so many other places, there have been battles. On of these was on Culblean Hill, just west of the lochs. Here are the words on the memorial plaque:

Battle of Culblean
1335
Erected by the Deeside
Field Club in 1956 to
commemorate the battle of
Culblean fought on St.
Andrew's day, 30th November
1335, between the forces of
Sir Andrew of Moray, Warden
of Scotland, and David, Earl
of Atholl, in which the
former were victorious.
The battle marked the
turning point in the second
Scottish war of independence.
Add glory to the past.

The last line is in smaller writing. One can only wonder what sort of glory was in the minds of the writers of the last line, just a few years after the horrors of the Second World War.

But there may be things that only those with roots here can understand.

Memorial to the battle of Culblean, on the road west of Loch Kinnord

Here are a few things from the nearer past. The suspension bridge at Cambus o'May isn't quite in the Ordie orbit, but there are lots of these Victorian footbridges along the Dee, many of them being close to bus stops on the A93 (Aberdeen-Braemar) road, with easy access: there's an excellent path along this part of the river Dee, which follows the old railway for much of its length. Some of the railway buildings can still be seen:

Suspension Bridge over the Dee at Cambus o'May	Former station at Cambus o'May	Deeside path just upstream of the bridge	The old Post Office at Ordie, with Victorian postbox
Tarland's main square	Fountain at Tarland	Memorial to violinist/composer, Peter Milne, at Tarland	"In the beginning", by Janet McEwan (2002). This is on the roadside as you leave Tarland towards Tomnaverie

Finally, we turn to a wonderful place which celebrates new and old in Celtic art: Migvie. Like Kirklands, it has an open setting with great views to the south, but it also has a kirk as well as the cemetry. In the kirkyard, there is a Pictish stone with an elaborate cross on one side and a horse-and-rider on the other:

Migvie symbol stone: cross

Migvie symbol stone: horse and rider

The Culquoich Hoff, built next to the stone, in 1682 (restored in 1899)

Migvie kirk

Mount Keen, from Migvie kirk

The inside of the kirk is now restored as a place for quiet and to contemplate not only some symbol stones but also much modern art and writing inspired by Pictish art and by the region's Christian history and ideas.

The restoration was done in 2001, by Philip Astor of Tillypronie, with work by Peter Goodfellow of Strathdon, Jane Bayliss of Fintray, Louise Gardner of Strathdon, Gavin Smith of Corgarff, Jeremy Brice of Kincardine O'Neill, Dave Bullock of Tarland, and Mike Bonner of Torphins.

There's a lot there, and it has a feeling of being shut off from the outside world. There is no natural light, and the electric lighting has been well designed to be gentle and to emulate the effect of the modern "windows". It's a most impressive place: the modern work is certainly the equal of the ancient, and is just as thought-provoking:

The inside of the kirk	Pictish stone (1) inside the kirk	Pictish stone (2) inside the kirk	The new east window (a backlit panel)	Another window, presumably based on the Pictish horserider carved on the stone outside
There are paintings...	...a map	...prayers	...thoughts	...and the decorative yet functional

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