Dating Druminnor: From Defended Medieval Enclosure to 'Renaissance Palace'

Colin Shepherd; Aayush Srivastava; Tim Kinnaird

doi:10.1080/00766097.2025.2588095

Dating Druminnor: From Defended Medieval Enclosure to 'Renaissance Palace'

Colin Shepherd
, Aayush Srivastava
, Tim Kinnaird

Archaeology

University of St Andrews

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

ABERDEENSHIRE, DRUMINOR CASTLE (NJ 5127 2710). This short paper follows on from a previous entry in this journal (Vol 64:2) that reported on the results of a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey (Shepherd Citation2020). That earlier survey revealed a number of features that have now been excavated and dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) analysis. The excavations form one part of the Bennachie Landscapes Project and have been carried out by a doughty volunteer team since 2011. Figure 1 shows the assumed 1.5-acre (0.6 ha) 13th-century enclosure with the trenches discussed in this report. The wall in Trench 13 is recorded on two 18th-century estate plans (RHP 260/1a; RHP 44705). Ground penetrating radar (GPR) located it beneath 2 m of 19th-century landscaping debris. The features in Trench 16 were unknown prior to their discovery by this survey, whilst the features in Trench 15/15W were discovered as part of the ongoing excavations. Apart from mechanical aid in removing the 19th-century landscaping debris of the northern half of Trench 13, all excavation was carried out by hand.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	400-406
Number of pages	7
Journal	Medieval Archaeology
Volume	69
Issue number	2
Early online date	3 Jul 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2025.2588095
Publication status	Published - 3 Jul 2025

Bibliographical note

Open Access via the Taylor & Francis agreement.

Acknowledgements
Grateful thanks to Alex Forbes for permission (and encouragement!) to excavate his grounds and to the volunteers of the Bennachie Landscapes Project who gamely uncovered and recorded such deep deposits. Castle Studies Trust kindly funded the original GPR survey and Bruce Mann of Aberdeenshire Council Archaeological Services generously organised the funding of the radiocarbon dates.

Funding

Castle Studies Trust kindly funded the original GPR survey and Bruce Mann of Aberdeenshire Council Archaeological Services generously organised the funding of the radiocarbon dates.

Funders
Castle Studies Trust
Aberdeenshire Council

Access to Document

10.1080/00766097.2025.2588095Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Shepherd_etal_MA_Dating_Druminnor_From_VoR
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided theoriginal work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
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Cite this

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abstract = "ABERDEENSHIRE, DRUMINOR CASTLE (NJ 5127 2710). This short paper follows on from a previous entry in this journal (Vol 64:2) that reported on the results of a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey (Shepherd Citation2020). That earlier survey revealed a number of features that have now been excavated and dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) analysis. The excavations form one part of the Bennachie Landscapes Project and have been carried out by a doughty volunteer team since 2011. Figure 1 shows the assumed 1.5-acre (0.6 ha) 13th-century enclosure with the trenches discussed in this report. The wall in Trench 13 is recorded on two 18th-century estate plans (RHP 260/1a; RHP 44705). Ground penetrating radar (GPR) located it beneath 2 m of 19th-century landscaping debris. The features in Trench 16 were unknown prior to their discovery by this survey, whilst the features in Trench 15/15W were discovered as part of the ongoing excavations. Apart from mechanical aid in removing the 19th-century landscaping debris of the northern half of Trench 13, all excavation was carried out by hand.",

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Dating Druminnor: From Defended Medieval Enclosure to 'Renaissance Palace'

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

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