Peel Ring of Lumphanan

In around 1228, the de Lundin family from Angus took control of a large estate between the rivers Dee and Don. They served as doorwards, or keepers of the royal household, which is why they became known as the Durwards.

At Lumphanan, the Durwards built an earthwork castle. It stood on a shaped natural mound and was surrounded by a wooden palisade. Its exact purpose isn’t known, but it may have been used as a base for hunting.

Their main residence was at Coull, about 6 miles to the west. The remains of that once impressive stone castle still survive, though they are now on private land.

The castle’s story isn’t very clear, but it does appear briefly in 1296 during the Wars of Independence with England.

On 21 July that year, Edward I of England stopped here while travelling north to Moray so he could accept the surrender of Sir John de Melville, lord of Raith in Fife.

Around the same time, the Durwards’ main stronghold at Coull Castle was destroyed, and the Peel Ring of Lumphanan was likely abandoned soon after.

The mound was reoccupied in the 1480s, when Thomas Charteris of Kinfauns in Perthshire, built a two‑storey residence on top of it. This building, called Ha’ton House, was demolished in the 1780s, but its foundations can still be seen today.

The Peel Ring of Lumphanan was taken into state care in 1957, the 900th anniversary of Macbeth’s death in 1057. People once thought the Peel Ring had been Macbeth’s stronghold, but later excavations showed it was actually built about 200 years after he died.