THE ORIGINS OF BELHELVIE
Prehistoric and other remains:
Although the origins of an established
community in the area probably lie in the mystery-shrouded territory that
was one of the seven provinces of Pictland, archaeological finds point
to a far earlier inhabitation of the area than either the Gaels or the
Picts. Remains of human habitation around Belhelvie have been found in
midden piles containing shells and bones along the coast near Balmedie,
which were probably left behind by early beach-dwellers. Prehistoric animal
skulls and bones of the ox Urus have also been discovered in Belhelvie
peat moss. Some of the items found in the parish are held in a collection
at the Anthrophological Museum of Aberdeen University, although one item,
a complete flanged axe purportedly found in Belhelvie around the turn of
the 20th century, is no longer considered to be authentic.
The
farms of Belhelvie parish, in particular, have provided a range of archaeological
finds. Two large bone rings were discovered under 'a flat stone' dislodged
by a plough on Braehead Farm. Sometime before 2000 BC, short cist burials
were left behind by what became known as the Beaker people. A short cist
burial, where an individual was buried singly in a shallow grave, along
with a clay vase or beaker, was found at Keir farm in the parish. This
burial contained fragmentary human skeletal material of a young female
in her late teens, accompanied by three ‘step 5’ beakers. Beaker finds
in Aberdeenshire are numerous and this is taken to mean that they reveal
a general migration inland from the coastal regions along river valleys.
In addition, the complete Bronze Age, gold ribbon torc, described as 'formed
of a twisted flat band of gold with hooked ends', found at Overhill circa
1855, was just one of a number of torcs from farms of Cothill and Overhill.
This torc now lies in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Another
twisted golden torc was found in the parish in 1871. Further fragments
of urns found in a tumulus in Belhelvie were donated to the Society of
Antiquaries in 1853 and an incomplete collared urn containing some bone
fragments was found at Balmedie Home Farm in 1910. A Bronze Age penannular
armlet with a snake pattern was found at a depth of 6 feet on the Links
of Drumside in the first half of the nineteenth century, and presented
to the National Museum of Antiquities in 1853. Finally a 6 knobbed stone
ball discovered at Red Moss is also housed in the National Museum in Edinburgh.
In the early 19th century
the remains of three stone circles could still be seen in the parish, largely
dating from just after 2000 BC. These along with a proliferation of barrows
or tumuli, and finds of arrow-heads, all point to the existence of an established
community. Temple Field in Potterton owes its name to the remains of a
stone circle known locally as the Temple Stones. The spiritual dimension
given to the name reflects the early belief that these remains were places
of pagan worship. Only the recumbent stone and accompanying fallen pillar
stones survived by the start of the twentieth century, and a fourth stone
with cup marks has since disappeared. At Bairnie Hillock a small cairn
was excavated to reveal a two-phase monument: a cairn with some cremated
bone and flint flakes, and a food vessel cremation with a barrow. At the
beginning of the twentieth century the Hare Cairn, which is of indeterminate
age, was the only remnant standing of several tumuli, stone circles and
other prehistoric monuments once recorded within Belhelvie parish.
Although these archaeological finds
offer hints of the lifestyles of Belhelvie’s earliest inhabitants, it is
not until the establishment of the local kirk that written records began
to be kept. These allow us a far clearer and more detailed understanding
of the past.