Peel of Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire

Alternative Name(s) Peel Of Lumphanan; Peel Bog Of Lumphanan; Halton House; Ha'ton House; Peel Ring Of Lumphanan. One of Grampian's earliest medieval earthworks, this flat-topped mound (36.6m by 45.7m) rises 9m above an enclosing ditch (15m wide) which is itself retained by an earthern bank. Formerly interpreted as a shell-keep (a motte with a curtain wall), excavations in the 1970s established that the wall around the summit was a late 18th century dyke built by the usual 'zealous agriculturalists'. The original 13th century defences may have been a turf rampart rather than a palisade. The motte was built by the Durwards. The footings of a rectangular manor house, Halton House, on the mound summit date from the late 15th century. The original cobbled causeway was traced across the ditch and winding up the NE side of the motte. The water in the wide ditch may have been controlled by a sluice system, now vanished. Canmore ID 17497