This is a very beautiful site and is obviously quite well looked after. Situated, surrounded by a well kept fence, in a small clearing the barrow stands at 18 meters wide and is 2 meters high. Wooden steps are provided for those with short legs. The three stones mentioned by Canmore remain as does the well mentioned in Rhiannon's post.
I took the first minor road north from the A90, south west after the B974 road, then took the 2nd minor road west stopping at the end of the trees, There is plenty of room for car parking. From there it is a very pleasant walk south in Inverury Wood, with at last some heat coming thru a cloudy sky today. After a gate, the barrow is a short distance and slightly east of the path. Today not a sound, what wonderful and peaceful place.
The hillock was opened c1856 under the direction of the Earl of Kintore, who lived (I assume) at the nearby Big House of Inglismaldie. He didn't actually get his hands dirty - a Mr J Glenny, his gardener, did the digging. He said that they found several cists containing bones with "a clay urn containing what appeared to be calcined bones."
A 1971 visitor spotted some stones and put forward the following interesting idea:
"About 30m NE are three earthfast boulders, 4.0m apart, forming an arc. They are unusual, being an an area generally devoid of large stones. Their purpose is obscure, but they could be the survivors of a stone circle 7 to 8m in diameter."
When did the mound get its name? Was it assumed a witch was buried there? Or were witches said (or known?) to gather there? Or was it just the Earl of Kintore who fancied something romantic in his garden. The 'Name Book' of 1863 says Witch Hillock is "a remarkable looking object...enclosed with ornamental wire fencing". Lovely. It's probably not quite such an fancy feature any more.
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Posted by drewbhoy
Posted by Rhiannon
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