Building record MAB6570 - BISHOP'S PALACE, KINNEDDAR

Bishop's palace, now visible only as cropmarks on aerial photographs.

Bishop's palace, now visible only as cropmarks on aerial photographs. Kinneddar was one of the seats of the pre-13th century seats of the Bishops of Moray. Bishop Richard (1187-1203) is known to have resided at Kinneddar, and in AD 1280, Bishop Archibald extended or rebuilt this stronghold or castle. The Bishop's Palace appears to have remained in use until the later 14th century, but it was ruinous by the 17th century although foundations remained visible in the 18th century. A detailed 19th century account of the site suggests that the castle was almost certainly unique in a Scottish context, a concentric castle, hexagonal in shape. The New Statistical Account (1840-65) describes a formidable medieval castle, with a central tower and two hexagonal surrounding walls, each with a ditch in front and backed by earthen ramparts of possibly earlier date. To the east of the great tower were vaulted storehouses. Levelling of the walls and ramparts, and infilling of ditches revealed a cist cemetery, with ashes, broken urns and human bones and cists both of dressed stone and what was described as 'rude' construction. At NJ 2243 6969 is a small stone structure filled with loose stones which may be remains of hollow tower, later converted to a dovecot. No other remains can be seen on the ground to correspond with the cropmark on air photographs. In 1936 boys from Gordonstoun School led by a master excavated the foundations of Kinneddar Castle. They followed the description given in NSA and found the foundation stones of the great tower, the walls and the small outer towers as described. In 1989 a resistivity survey immediately north of the cemetery at Kinneddar located the site of the Bishop's palace. High resistance linear features indicate walls oriented seem to correspond with the sides of a hexagon, the linear low resistance features corresponding with ditches. An area of high resistance in the centre of a site should almost certainly be associated with the 'great tower'. Field evaluation in Cemetery Field carried out by CFA in September 1995 (NJ26NW0178) encompassed the eastern edge of the site. Evaluation located the most visible aerial photo feature, the hexagonal ditch and supported the documentary evidence that this structure is the remains of Kinneddar Castle (the Bishop's Palace). In April 2002 an archaeological evaluation was carried out by Headland Archaeology in advance of a proposed pipeline (see also NJ26NW0069). The evaluation area lay to the east of the site of the Bishop's Palace. The excavation consisted of 13 trenches and revealed a number of archaeological features including a large pit, ditches and possible postholes. Medieval pottery consisted of gritty red wares, some of which were green glazed. The evidence for Medieval activity was restricted to the southwest of the excavation site and indicates that the features relate to the Bishop's Palace (Coleman 2002). Full excavation subsequently carried out in May recorded archaeological features all along the pipeline wayleave with a particular concentration at the southwest end. These included two possible prehistoric pit alignments, but the majority of features were medieval including traces of agriculture, enclosure and drainage. A large ditch may have been the boundary of the cathedral site or possibly an outer defence work for the castle. Finds from the excavations included circa 140 sherds of medieval redware, a hone stone and two pieces of worked stone. No traces of building foundations were uncovered. Geophysical survey was carried out by University of Aberdeen in November 2015. A programme of archaeological works carried out by AOC during December 2015 to January 2016 prior to proposed development (NJ26NW0103) identified a large medieval ditch interpreted as a remnant of the Bishop’s Palace ditch and vallum, with the enclosed area including a stone lined well.

Period Notes
Ruins still visible up to 19thC. Scheduled 11/04/1997.

COLOUR PRINT, COLOUR PRINT (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB31113.

Author unknown, 1799, OLD STATISTICAL ACCOUNT, VOL IV, 81 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1845.

SHAW, L., 1827, THE HISTORY OF THE PROVINCE OF MORAY (2nd ed.), 309,322 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1626.

POCOCKE, R, 1887, TOURS IN SCOTLAND, (1760) 186 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1409.

MACKINTOSH, HB, 1924, PILGRIMAGES IN MORAY, 14,75-6 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1145.

TRANTER, N, 1974, NE SHIRES BANFF, MORAY & NAIRN, 241 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1920.

KEITH, A, 1975, PARISHES OF KEITH & LOSSIE, 20-23 (Bibliographic reference). SAB977.

BOGDAN, NQ, 1991, Castles, Manors & Town House survey, P.36 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2251.

SURVEY

SHEPHERD, IAG, 1993, THE PICTS IN MORAY. IN SELLAR, W.D.H. MORAY: PROVINCE AND PEOPLE (Bibliographic reference). SAB1731.

CFA, 1995, CONFIDENTIAL: TENDER FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD EVALUATION KINNEDAR, LOSSIEMOUTH (Bibliographic reference). SAB5334.

ASPINALL, A, 1995, DES : KINNEDDAR, 35-6 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2171.

BISHOP'S PALACE

CAMERON, K, 1995, DES : KINNEDDAR, 36 (Bibliographic reference). SAB3857.

EVALUATION

MURDOCH, R, 1995, DES : SPYNIE PALACE, 37 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2853.

WATCHING BRIEF

CFA, 1995, KINNEDAR ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD EVALUATION, LOSSIEMOUTH DATA STRUCTURE REPORT., CFA Report 243 (Bibliographic reference). SAB5333.

THE MORAY SOCIETY, 1995, KINNEDAR, LOSSIEMOUTH, MORAY - BRIEF FOR AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD EVALUATION (Bibliographic reference). SAB5008.

SCOTTISH CASTLE SURVEY, 1995, KINNEDDAR CASTLE SURVEY (Bibliographic reference). SAB1703.

SCOTTISH CASTLE SURVEY, 1995, SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL PALACES PROJECT (Bibliographic reference). SAB3298.

COLEMAN, R., 2002, EXCAVATION AT BISHOP'S PALACE, KINNEDDAR (Bibliographic reference). SAB3907.

EXCAVATION

HEADLAND ARCHAEOLOGY, 2002, Kinneddar, Bishop's Palace Evaluation, REPORT (Bibliographic reference). SAB2740.

EVALUATION

HEADLAND ARCHAEOLOGY, 2002, WRITTEN SCHEME OF INVESTIGATION, BISHOPS PALACE (Bibliographic reference). SAB2682.

WSI

NOBLE, G, 2018, KINNEDDAR: A MAJOR ECCLESIASTICAL CENTRE OF THE PICTS. PSAS 148 (2018), 1–32 , PSAS p.1-32 (Bibliographic reference). SAB3026.

AOC ARCHAEOLOGY, 2018, SUNBANK, LOSSIEMOUTH, MORAY: ARCHAEOLOGICAL WORKS UPDATED DATA STRUCTURE REPORT, DSR (Bibliographic reference). SAB8375.

FIRTH, D, 2023, THE EARLY CHURCH AND THE LOCH OF SPYNIE IN MORAYSHIRE (Bibliographic reference). SAB4207.

Aug 15 1995 , AAS/95/08/CT10, AAS/95/08/CT10 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB32102.

Aug 15 1995 , AAS/95/08/G21/11-14, AAS/95/08/G21/11-14 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB31164.

Jul 9 1976 , NJ26N 2636212, NJ26N 2636212 (Air-vertical Photograph). SAB30471.

Jul 13 1954 , F21/82/955:0027-9, F21/82/955:0027-9 (Air-vertical Photograph). SAB30470.

Author unknown, n.d., NSA, (1845) 151-3 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1269.

Author unknown, n.d., THE NORTHERN SCOT, 03/03/95 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1270.

Author unknown, n.d., THE NORTHERN SCOT, 29/09/95 p.25 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1270.

Record last edited

Sep 4 2025 2:32PM