Bennachie Colony Excavations

The Bennachie colony served as the original impetus for the Bennachie Landscapes Project. The Bilies of Bennachie wished to discover more about the Colony and the University of Aberdeen was equally intrigued by this informal, 19th-century squatter colony nestling on the eastern slopes of Bennachie. In reality, the squatters were dispersed more widely across the hill, but the Clackie Burn saw the development of a more concentrated ‘colony’. Over the last few years the Colony has served as the focus for a wide range of archaeological, historical and artistic community events. This section deals with the archaeological. Other aspects are described elsewhere on this site.


Oliver, J. et al (2013) “Historical Archaeology and the ‘Colony’: Reflections on fieldwork at a 19th century settlement in rural Scotland”, BLOP1, in Shepherd, C. (ed) Bennachie and the Garioch: Society and Landscape in the History of North-east Scotland, 2 (Chapel of Garioch, Bailies of Bennachie) 103-124.

Oliver, J. (2015) “Archaeology and the Bennachie Colony: Excavations of two 19th century crofts”, BLOP2, in Shepherd, C. (ed) Bennachie and the Garioch: Society and Landscape in the History of North-east Scotland, 3 (Chapel of Garioch, Bailies of Bennachie) 83-98.

Taylor, S. (2015) “Pottery finds from the Colony site: Some initial observations”, BLOP3, in Shepherd, C. (ed) Bennachie and the Garioch: Society and Landscape in the History of North-east Scotland, 3 (Chapel of Garioch, Bailies of Bennachie) 99-110.

Miller, C.H. (2015) “Division of the Commonty of Bennachie: the 1858 map”, BLOP25, in Shepherd, C. (ed) Bennachie and the Garioch: Society and Landscape in the History of North-east Scotland, 3 (Chapel of Garioch, Bailies of Bennachie) 49-54.