Grampian Mountains

from Beinn a' Ghlò. The Roman historian Tacitus recorded Mons Graupius as the site of the defeat of the native Caledonians by Gnaeus Julius Agricola c. 83 AD. The actual location of Mons Graupius, literally 'Mount Graupius' (the element 'Graupius' is of unknown meaning), is a matter of dispute among historians, though most favour a location within the Grampian massif, possibly at Raedykes, Megray Hill or Kempstone Hill. The spelling Graupius comes from the Codex Aesinas, a mediaeval copy of Tacitus's Germania believed to be from the mid-9th century. In the Middle Ages, this locale was known as the Mounth, a name still held by a number of geographical features. Etymology Recorded first as Graupius in 83 A.D, the origin of the name Grampians is uncertain. The name Grampians is believed to have first been applied to the mountain range in 1520 by the Scottish historian Hector Boece, perhaps an adaptation of the incorrect Mons Grampius. Thus the range may owe its name to a typesetter's mistake. == Extent ==

There is some ambiguity about the extent of the range. Fenton Wyness, writing about Deeside, puts the northern edge of the Grampians at the River Dee in the introduction to his 1968 book Royal Valley : The Story Of The Aberdeenshire Dee: This introduction appears to suggest that Wyness defines the Grampians as being the range of mountains running from immediately south of Aberdeen westward to Beinn Dearg in the Forest of Atholl. Similarly, Adam Watson, when defining the extent of the Cairngorms, specifically excluded the range south of the River Dee, writing: Both Wyness and Watson appear to exclude the Cairngorms from the Grampians, regarding them as a separate range. In effect, Wyness' and Watson's definition of the Grampians is as a synonym for the Mounth. However Robert Gordon, writing in the 1650s, used the term Grampians to refer to hills on either side of the River Dee, and thus explicitly included the Cairngorms within the range. Wyness and Watson both exclude areas west of the Pass of Drumochter from the Grampians, but the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica adopted a wider definition, including the highlands as far as Dunbartonshire in the west. ==Geology==

The Grampian Mountains are chiefly made up of metamorphic and igneous rocks. The mountains are composed of granite, gneiss, marble, schists and quartzite. The Quaternary glaciation (<2.6 Ma) eroded the region significantly, and glacial deposits, such as tills, are largely those of the last Ice Age (< 20 Ka). ==Sub-ranges==

The following ranges of hills and mountains fall within the generally recognised definition of the Grampians, i.e. lying between the Highland and Great Glen fault lines: • Cairngorms • Monadh Liath • Mounth • Grey Corries • Mamores • Ben Alder Forest • The mountains of Glen Coe and Glen Etive • Black Mount • Breadalbane Hills • Trossachs • Arrochar Alps • Cowal • The Isle of Arran ==In Literature==

In the popular 1756 play Douglas, the second act begins with a speech that mentions the Grampian Hills: My name is Norval; on the Grampian Hills My father feeds his flocks; a frugal swain, Whose constant cares were to increase his store. And keep his only son, myself, at home. The speech "acquired a life of its own, independent of the play, and became widely known through public recitations, lessons in speech, school memorizations and the like" during the 18th and 19th centuries. The speech (and thus the reference to the Grampian Hills) are casually referred to by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and George Bernard Shaw. ==See also==