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Cawdor

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Village and parish in Scotland For the Australian locality of the same name, see Cawdor, New South Wales.

Human settlement in Scotland
Cawdor
Cawdor is located in Inverness areaCawdorCawdorLocation within the Inverness area
OS grid referenceNH846486
Council area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townNairn
Postcode districtIV12 5
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
List of places
UK
Scotland
57°30′49″N 3°55′37″W / 57.51352°N 3.92693°W / 57.51352; -3.92693

Cawdor (Scottish Gaelic: Caladair) is a village and parish in the Highland council area, Scotland. The village is 5 miles (8 kilometres) south-southwest of Nairn and 12 miles (19 kilometres) east of Inverness. The village is in the Historic County of Nairnshire.

History

The village is the location of Cawdor Castle, the seat of the Earl Cawdor. A massive keep with small turrets is the original portion of the castle, and to it were added, in the 17th century, later buildings forming two sides of a square.

Macbeth, in Shakespeare's play of the same name, becomes Thane of Cawdor early in the narrative. However, since the oldest part of the castle's structure dates from the late 14th century, and has no predecessor, Shakespeare's version's historical authenticity is dubious.

The name "Cawdor" is the English pronunciation and spelling of the ancient and original name Calder. In the early 19th century, the Lord at the time was residing in England and changed the name of the castle, town and clan overnight so that it would match the Shakespearian designation.

Roman fort

Main article: Cawdor (Roman fort)

In 1984, a strong candidate for a Roman fort was identified at Easter Galcantray, south west of Cawdor, by aerial photography.

The site was excavated between 1985 and 1988 and several features were identified which are of this classification.

A single fragment of Roman coarse ware was found in the bottom of the ditch outside the south-west gateway along with burnt material; this pottery has very similar fabric to that found at Inchtuthil. In addition to this sparse pottery evidence, the demolition deposits in the western ditch yielded a piece of charcoal which has been radiocarbon dated to A.D. 80-130 (Calibrated).

The radiocarbon test gave a possible date of construction during the Agricola campaign.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Cawdor". The Gazetteer for Scotland. School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh and The Royal Scottish Geographical Society. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  2.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cawdor". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 587.
  3. "Excavations at Cawdor 1986" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2009.

External links

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