Building record MAB30714 - REFORM TOWER, MEET HILL, PETERHEAD

Tall tapering tower, and site of a tumulus and cist.

The Reform Tower, erected by the Whigs, is one of two monuments built to commemorate the Reform Bill, the other is the Reform Monument (MAB30244) in the town erected by the Tories.

The tower, built in 1832, is of five stages on a Greek cross plan, the top stage slightly corbelled out with splays in angles. The tower is constructed of squared granite, with rock-faced masonry at the ground floor, with a simple cornice over openings and a crenelated parapet. It was originally intended as an observatory, but this was not completed. The foundation stone was laid by George Mudie of Meethill in August 1832.

A tumulus and cist containing fragments of human bones and a food vessel are recorded as having been discovered when digging the Reform Tower foundations in 1833. An account in the Aberdeen Press and Journal 20 June 1832 describes how the foundation trenches were dug into an artificial mound 3.96 m (13 feet) high and circa 24-27 m (80-90 feet) across, uncovering a large flagstone, oriented north-south, covering a cist. The tumulus contained black mould mixed with bone fragments including jawbone and led. An urn, ‘ornamented with curves and dotted lines’, contained ‘mould and bone fragments’. The core of the mound was a pile of large stones on which the cist rested, the outer part of the mound contained earth and stones interspersed with charred oak. The Reform Monument was erected on top of the tumulus.

Although an urn in the Arbuthnott Museum was recorded as having been 'found below foundations of Meethill Monument, Broad Street, Peterhead' this is likely to be the result of confusion between the two reform monuments. Additionally, Bogdan notes that although it has been suggested that this was ‘a mote hill or seat of baronial justice’, it seems unlikely that the site was ever reused as a motte.

ORDNANCE SURVEY, 1871, Ordnance Name Book, No72(1868) 52 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1360.

FOOD-VESSEL

ANDERSON, J, 1888, REPORTS ON LOCAL MUSEUMS IN SCOTLAND IN PSAS 22(1887-88) 331-422, 366 (Bibliographic reference). SAB17.

FOOD-VESSEL

Feb 19 2014 , AAS-GR-14-02-134 - 140, AAS-GR-14-02-134 - 140 (Ground Photograph). SAB20815.

Author unknown, n.d., BUCHAN OBSERVER, 02/09/86 (Bibliographic reference). SAB113.

Author unknown, n.d., NSA, No12(1845) 356 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1269.

FOOD-VESSEL

Record last edited

Jul 19 2026 3:34PM