Cowton Burn is a stream that rises in the

Mounth The Mounth ( ) is the broad upland in northeast Scotland between the Highland Boundary and the River Dee, at the eastern end of the Grampians. Name and etymology The name ''Mounth'' is ultimately of Pictish origin. The name is derived from ...

, or eastern range of the

Grampian Mountains The Grampian Mountains () is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. The Grampian range extends northeast to so ...

, on some of the northwest slopes of the

Durris Forest Road through Durris Forest, alt=A road running through Durris Forest with an old field wall alongside Durris Forest is a chiefly coniferous forest south of the River Dee approximately three kilometres west of Netherley in Aberdeenshire, Scotlan ...

west of

Netherley, Aberdeenshire Netherley, Scotland is a village in Aberdeenshire, situated approximately five miles northwest of Stonehaven.United Kingdom Ordnance Survey Map Landranger 45, Stonehaven and Banchory, 1:50,000 scale, 2004 Netherley is located in the Mounth area o ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The Grid Reference for the headwaters is NO 925 823); Cowton Burn is a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

to the

Cowie Water The Cowie Water () is a river of Scotland. Geography The river rises in the Grampian Mountains (Scotland), Grampian Mountains in Kincardineshire, and discharges to the North Sea in the northern part of Stonehaven,United Kingdom Ordnance Survey ...

. The Cowton Burn is crossed by the

A957 road The Slug Road (A957) is a 13-mile road in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It runs from Stonehaven in the the Mearns, Mearns to Banchory in Royal Deeside, Deeside, crossing a spur of the Grampians. The pass through which it runs is known as the Slug (f ...

slightly northwest of Rickarton House.

Watershed characteristics

The

headwaters The headwater of a river or stream is the geographical point of its beginning, specifically where surface runoff water begins to accumulate into a flowing channel of water. A river or stream into which one or many tributary rivers or streams flo ...

of the Cowton Burn rise in a

coniferous Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

forest area of the Durris Forest. The stream flows downslope on an easterly course as it makes its way to discharge to the Cowie Water. The stream generally has lush vegetation growing all the way to its margins throughout most of its course. The July flow rate is roughly six cubic feet per second in the headwaters reach. pH levels are slightly

alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from the Arabic word , ) is a basic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The ...

.C.M. Hogan, ''History of Muchalls Castle'', Natural History Section, Lumina Press, Aberdeen (2005)

History

The

Roman Camp ''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified milita ...

Raedykes Raedykes is the site of a Roman marching camp located just over northwest of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. National Grid Reference NO 842902. It is designated as a scheduled monument. A marching camp was a temporary camp used mainly fo ...

occupied the northern higher ground of the central drainage area of Cowton Burn, whereas the east flank of Raedykes provides

surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow or terrestrial runoff) is the unconfined flow of water over the ground surface, in contrast to ''channel runoff'' (or ''stream flow''). It occurs when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other ...

to the Burn of Monboys. A number of historical analysts, including the 19th century researcher Gabriel Jaques Surenne and contemporary authors Watt and Hogan, hypothesize that the

Battle of Mons Graupius The Battle of Mons Graupius was, according to Tacitus, a Roman military victory in what is now Scotland, taking place in AD 83 or, less probably, 84. The exact location of the battle is a matter of debate. Historians have long questioned some ...

was fought in or slightly east of Cowton Burn watershed.Archibald Watt, ''Highways and Byways Round Stonehaven'', Gourdas House Publishers, Aberdeen (1984) Immediately above the confluence with the Cowie Water, one can look down and see expanses of Fetteresso Forest to the west, at the edge of which is the Rickarton House estate, founded by Colonel William Rickart Hepburn in the first decade of the 19th century.Archibald Watt, ''Highways and Biways around Kincardineshire'', Stonehaven Heritage Society (1985)

References

{{authority control Rivers of Aberdeenshire

Watershed characteristics

History

See also

References