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Image of Durn Hill (Hillfort) by stolinskie

Banffshire Advertiser – Thursday 03 November 1887

DRUID CIRCLES.—On the Hill of Durn there are two Druidical circles in a very good state of preservation. Those who have never seen this ancient place of law and worship might do worse than spend a holiday in the vicinity of the old and secluded village of Fordyce, where many a good scholar has had the rudiments of his future usefulness instilled into him. Taking our course by the road leading out at the eastern end of the village and keeping to the right and leaving the road at the stance of Hallow Fair, we find a water track road which leads over the south shoulder of Durn to the farm of Hillside. On the opposite side of the hill, about 300 yards due north, we come upon one of the circles; and by going 500 yards to the east we come upon the second. The circles are on the bare moor, which is of a very sterile character. Nothing in the shape of vegetation is to be seen except heather. A splendid view is to be got from the circles, and one could not help thinking that it would have been exceedingly difficult for a party to have surprised the worshippers without ample notice being given of their approach.

Image credit: stolinskie
Image of Durn Hill (Hillfort) by stolinskie

A second big sunken stone close to the first one, on the northern shoulder of Durn Hill

Image credit: stolinskie
Image of Durn Hill (Hillfort) by stolinskie

A big old stone sunken into the ground on the northern shoulder of Durn Hill

Image credit: stolinskie

Articles

Durn Hill

Lovely hill, extremely windy when I went up in December. I ascended up a path from the quarry side and beside a gate saw a bunch of stones which seemed to me could well be a former stone circle, although I cannot find anything on the old maps to confirm that. The stones are piled up at 57.664767, -2.715907.

As an aside I was using peakfinder.com to identify the hills I could see, what a great tool!

Durn Hill

Durn Hill towers over the small port of Portsoy and has good all round views. I parked at the quarry opposite Broomhills farm. From here a path leads so far up the hill then its watch your feet.

The fort is at the top, I went via the cairn, which means I climbed from the east. Earthworks can be seen at NJ573634 and Canmore suggests that there are various cists. Certainly there are plenty of large granite boulders lying about. However the hill is more famous for it’s white quartize, it’s everywhere. It seems that walls and ramparts for the fort were made from this rock.

To the south west the remains of a ditch and wall are visible, a shorter ditch is on the northern side. Two circular structures can also be seen, one as a hollow another built from white quartize, this might be a type of souterrain although I’m not sure.

Canmore says that the fort was unfinished and had three lines of defence. One thing for certain-the North Sea/Moray Firth has a very strong wind! The climb in places is fairly steep and the strength of the wind, today, helped the climber!

Visited 3/08/09.

Miscellaneous

Durn Hill
Hillfort

“Durn, a hill and a burn in the Fordyce Parish of North Banffshire. The hill culminates 2 miles south west of Portsoy, and, rising to altitude of 651 feet above sea level, is crowned with the remains of an ancient camp, supposed to have been Danish. A quarry on it’s northern side yields a beautiful variety of quartz, exported to England for the use of the potteries. The burn, rising near Smithfield (a farm), at an altitude of 600 feet runs 6 miles north-north-eastward to the sea at Portsoy.”

Ond. Sur., sh.96, 1876.

Ordnance Gazetteer Of Scotland
by Thomas C. Jack between 1882 and 1885.

(The burn enters the sea at Portsoy harbour right next to the Shore Inn pub. Hurrah!)

Sites within 20km of Durn Hill