-B A L V E N T CASTLE, 
11 ancient and refpe&able Fortrefs, in the Par: ill of 
Morilachy and upper Diflridt of Banfffiire . 
^ E fituation is fuch. as would be eligible in an early age, for a place 
*hr r°^ ftren S th > °f obfervation, and fecurity. It is a circular mount, which on 
a K es _‘ s pretty fteep ; and a natural hollow, augmented and improved by art, in 
ner infulates it on the fourth. This gave opportunity of confulting with great 
Vi t y t ^ e a dditional fafety gained by a ditch and rampart, drawn round on the decli- 
tj en ’ at a Ettle diftancc from the walls of the caftle. In fuch fituations the very an- 
tbi s y p h l ^ buildings, in the remoter diftr.ids of the north, are often found * : and 
ei ? S t0 con ^ er E>me validity on the current tradition of the country, that the 
ftfQn ° °bl was called the Pights or PiElijh Power f. There are, however, ftill 
tl le ^ . 'Terences to the exiftence of a place of -confiderablc ftrength here, about 
of ^ ,n * n g °f the eleventh century J ; which being an ter a prior to the building 
fuj. D 'ffyor Caftk, and nearly coeval with the Power of London, we are not to be 
G - ^ la t our accounts of it then are indiftind, and the annals of military tranf- 
afR rrTl S ln ^ at Period dubious. — Some monuments indicate, and concurring traditions 
%r es 5 t ^ ie adjacent plain had been a field of battle in an early age. Swords, 
and ^orfe-fhoes, °f antique forms, have been repeatedly dug up in thofe parts, 
ri ans ret be moft authentic evidences of the fall of foreign enemies there. Our hifto- 
fr Ce , s 8eneraII y a S ree > f hat this was the memorable defeat of the Danijh or Norwegian 
flon e U f der ^ necus or Enetus, by king Malcolm II, about the year xoio §. A huge 
th e a hlC ^ ^ an ds not far from the caftle of Balveny , is pointed to, as marking out 
of its , Ve °f the Danijh general ; but as it is void of fculpture, the time or intention 
ein § creded there, cannot now be pofitively afcertained. 
f h 
Co n (- e at BNveny Caftle was an eminent place of ftrength, and formerly held of high 
*' rrio^ UenCe > * s ev ^d ent from hence ; “ that through all the periods to which our 
<c b ; t 5 e aut hentic hiftories extend, the poflcftion of this fortrefs was an object of am- 
the ni) ° n to die moft noble and powerful families of the kingdom. ||” But among 
been D i er ° Us fragments of obliterated carvings and broken coats of arms, which had 
t>nly acc d over the windows and on various parts of this venerable ftrudure, the 
ClT >orial of its former polTeflors, which can now be diftindiy traced, is the 
See Anh’ 
t Se e q 1<5uit!es and Scenery, p. 73, &c. t Pichts Wark. 
II Tile Q ^° n . S *t>ner. Septentrional^, p. 153, &c. § See For dun, Boece, Buchanan, &c. 
JjS umn >mgs, bouglajjis, and Stewarts, in fucceffion. 
L a 
motto 
