Mormond Hill

Evening sunshine on Hunters Lodge

For over half a century Grey Granite has harboured an ambition to reach the Hunters Lodge on Mormond Hill. This she has at last achieved, having walked to the Lodge one evening last week. This was after after several earlier abortive attempts to find ways up the hill which were not blocked by cattle and other obstacles. We ascended the hill by walking along a footpath from Brandsbog to the quarry on Pluck Hill. From here  well defined tracks, grassy but with large edging stones, zig-zag across the hill to reach the summit ridge where a line of conifers leading towards the lodge is followed. The white horse is below these conifers but cannot be seen  from above. Approaching the lodge it becomes surprising how large it is, not the 'wee hoosie' on the top of Mormond Hill that it appears to be from the Buchan flatlands.

The two storey lodge was built around 1779 by Captain Fraser, Lord Lovat of Strichen. An inscription above the lintel reads: 'In this Hunter's Lodge Rob Gib commands, MDCCLXXIX.' According to local tradition Rob Gib was a locally born  court jester to either King James V (1513 - 1542), James VI or Charles II who said "I serve your Majesty for stark love and kindness". The name  Robb Gib was used in a covert loyal toasts by Jacobites so it is possible that the inscription is a political statement in support of Charles Edward Stewart who was still alive and in exile when the lodge was built.

The ground floor of the Lodge consisted of just one room, used by Lord Strichen and his guests after a days hunting on the hill. The fire place was said to be large enough to roast  a deer. The upstairs provided accommodation for the estate gamekeeper.

 Mormond Hill has 2 summits, both rising to around 230m here looking from behind the lodge to the Waughton Hill summit. This is covered in 'saucers and masts',  the remains of 'Station 44 of the US North Atlantic Radio System (NARS), which followed the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line, and provided a similar function, serving as an early warning radar system between 1961 and 1992. While the DEW Line was originally intended to provide a warning of enemy bombers, the later NARS system was intended to warn of missile launches. The station was built in 1960, as the penultimate link in a chain of radio sites reaching from Iceland to Fylingdales in Yorkshire.' (Secret Scotland)  The dishes and masts are now used by various telecommunication companies including Bt.

Following her death in Hollywood Lorna Moon's ashes were returned to Scotland and scattered close to the Hunter's Lodge.  On the evening when Grey Granite visited the Lodge the peat reek rose in a feint cloud from Strichen and could be smelt, incense like, on the hill.

The lodge fireplaces, the orange rectangles are the setting sun shining through window spaces in the west wall of the ruin.