Peel of Lumphanan: A Thirteenth-Century Earthwork Castle
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Kingdom of Scotland, Norman
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page9 sections
History
The Peel of Lumphanan is a thirteenth-century earthwork castle near Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire, United Kingdom. Also called the Peel Ring or Peel Bog of Lumphanan, it was built as a fortified residence during the medieval period and later served briefly as the site of a fifteenth-century house.
The Durward lordship
Around 1228, the Anglo-Norman de Lundin family acquired a lordship and extensive lands between the Rivers Don and Dee. The family held the hereditary office of royal doorwards, a household position associated with the king’s entrance and security, and later took the surname Durward. Their principal local residence was Coull Castle, while the Peel of Lumphanan appears to have functioned mainly as a hunting lodge rather than as a continuously occupied home.
The present mound was constructed in the thirteenth century by the de Lundin family, probably under Baron Thomas of Lundie after the family gained its regional estates. The castle was occupied from approximately the middle of the thirteenth century into the fourteenth century.
Conflict, abandonment, and later reuse
On 21 July 1296, during the Wars of Scottish Independence, Sir John de Melville of Raith submitted to Edward I of England at the Peel. Edward I was the English king whose intervention formed part of the conflict between the Scottish kingdom and English rule. The castle was abandoned soon afterward and no longer served as a defensive work.
The site was reused in 1487, when Thomas Charteris of Kinfauns built a residence called Halton House on the mound. The house was occupied for only a short time and had become a ruin by the eighteenth century.
Macbeth tradition and archaeological investigation
The Peel is linked by tradition with the Battle of Lumphanan, fought nearby in 1057 between Macbeth, the eleventh-century king of Scotland, and Malcolm III, who succeeded him. Macbeth was killed in the battle. Whether a motte already stood at the Peel at that time remains uncertain, because the castle visible in its present form dates from the thirteenth century. Macbeth’s Stone, traditionally identified as the place where Macbeth was beheaded, lies about 300 metres south-west of the Peel.
Excavations during the 1970s, including work commissioned by Historic Scotland between 1975 and 1979, clarified the date of the circular wall on the summit. The wall belongs to the eighteenth century, rather than being the curtain wall of a medieval shell keep, a stone defensive enclosure built around the top of a motte. The Peel is managed by Historic Environment Scotland and protected as a scheduled monument, a legally protected archaeological or historic site considered nationally important.
Remains
Earthwork defenses
The surviving castle is organized around a central motte, a raised earth mound that supported a fortified residence or tower. Two concentric ditches surround it, with an intervening bank between them. The outer earth bank rises to approximately 4 metres, while the inner ditch or moat is about 15 metres wide. The defenses included a wet or water-filled ditch, and the original ramparts may have been made from turf and protected by a wooden palisade. The outer ditch was described as shallow in 1960 and is now difficult to discern. The entrance was probably on the western side.
The central mound measures approximately 37 by 45 metres. Its lower half is a natural hill that was heightened during construction, giving the mound a pear-shaped form. It stands at approximately 148 metres above sea level. The site survives chiefly as earthworks, including the motte, ditches, and banks, rather than as an intact standing castle.
Summit structures
Circular wall
Remains of a circular wall about 1 metre thick survive on the summit of the mound. Excavation established that it dates from the eighteenth century. Its construction therefore belongs to the later history of the site and not to a medieval shell keep or curtain wall.
Halton House
The summit also preserves the foundations of a rectangular building measuring approximately 15 by 4 metres. These are the remains of Halton House, the residence built by Thomas Charteris of Kinfauns in 1487. The building was briefly occupied and later became a ruin.
