Kindrochit Castle is an early fortification in Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Originally founded by Malcolm Canmore in 1059 AD as a hunting lodge on the banks of the Clunie

Clunie

Clunie is a small settlement in Perthshire, Scotland, 7 km west of Blairgowrie. It lies on the western shore of the Loch of Clunie. Near the village are the foundations of what is believed to have been be a castle used by Kenneth MacAlpin, the first king of Scotland, as a base for hunting in the...

, various authors have puzzled as to the reasons for siting the castle in this wild and remote location. C. Michael Hogan has noted that Kindrochit Castle as well as Kildrummy

Kildrummy Castle

Kildrummy Castle is a ruined castle near Kildrummy, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, United Kingdom. Though ruined, it is one of the most extensive castles of 13th century date to survive in eastern Scotland, and was the seat of the Earls of Mar....

 and Durris Castle

Durris Castle

Durris Castle or the House of Dores was an early royal residence on southern bank of the River Dee in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.Dating from at least the 13th century, the castle, a motte and bailey, was occupied by Alexander III and is mentioned in the Chamberlain Rolls of the time as the subject of...

s were likely sited based upon strategic positions relative to the ancient Elsick Mounth

Elsick Mounth

The Elsick Mounth is an ancient trackway crossing the Grampian Mountains in the vicinity of Netherley, Scotland. This trackway was one of the few means of traversing the Grampian Mounth area in prehistoric and medieval times. The highest pass of the route is attained within the Durris Forest...

 trackway

Trackway

A trackway is an ancient route of travel for people or animals. In biology, a trackway can be a set of impressions in the soft earth, usually a set of footprints, left by an animal. A fossil trackway is the fossilized imprint of a trackway. Trackways have been found all over the world...

, which provided a strategic crossing of the Mounth

Mounth

The Mounth is the range of hills on the southern edge of Strathdee in northeast Scotland. It was usually referred to with the article, i.e. "the Mounth". The name is a corruption of the Scottish Gaelic monadh which in turn is akin to the Welsh mynydd, and may be of Pictish origin...

 of the Grampian Mountains.