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Burghead Well

Burghead, Roseisle, Moray, (Elginshire).

Rock Cut Chamber.

'The well comprises a rectangular chamber about 16 feet square and 12ft high, with rounded angles, cut out of rock at the base of a crag ... some 20ft below the present ground level above. The floor is bordered by a ledge surrounding a basin 10ft square and 4ft deep, again with rounded corners. [Canmore]

It consists of a flight of steps leading down to a chamber, within which is sunk a tank fed by springs. The work is unique in Scotland. It may be described as a well, though the monumental character of the work shows that it was not made for the simple purpose of drawing water. Some ceremonial significance, religious or secular, is suggested and it is almost certainly of Dark Age date. [Burghead Visitor Centre]

Alternative Names: The Roman Well, Burghhead Castle Cellar, Great Well Chamber

Notes: Key to the Well is available at the Visitor Centre and Bothy Bistro, Grant Street, Burghead.

[The site] has presented an unresolved archaeological problem since it was cleared out in 1809. It is not known by whom, when or why this remarkable monument was cut out of the living rock. The ancient work of the Well is all rock-hewn. It consists of a flight of steps leading down to a chamber, within which is sunk a tank fed by springs. The work is unique in Scotland. It may be described as a well, though the monumental character of the work shows that it was not made for the simple purpose of drawing water. Some ceremonial significance, religious or secular, is suggested and it is almost certainly of Dark Age date.

It is located on the grounds of a significant (but poorly-preserved) Pictish fort.

Previously noted as Aberdeenshire.