Blair Collection > Place names in Strathbogie, with notes historical, antiquarian and descriptive

1 8 Place Navies in Strathbogie.
the homestead. Bard is, however, in place names
generally rendered ' bard ' or ' poet,' although the
association with our bare hills is somewhat odd.
Knockenbard (cnoc, 'a hill 'J, parish of Insch, may
also mean the ' hill of the bard.'
I have not found a single reference to the
Battlehill in any old document, nor have I found
any other name which could have been used to
designate the hill, unless, perhaps, Thorneywraes,
now Thorneybrae.
The Ba'-hill is supposed to have been a resort
in old times of those who played ' foot-ba',' and
therefore came to be known as the Ba'-hill, but,
I think, there can be no question, this conjecture
is purely fanciful. It is hardly possible to im-
agine a more unsuitable place for such a game.
There is not a bit of level ground throughout the
length or breadth of the hill, or in its neighbour-
hood ; and the tradition — if it is old enough to be
called a tradition — is scarcely w^orth considering.
Ba'-hill may occasionally be a contraction of
Bal-hill, ' the hill of the baile' or town ; and per-
haps this may be the origin of Ball-hill at Auch-
macoy, near Ellon. In the present instance, so
far as the records indicate, the neighbouring
farms in Gaelic times seem to have been small
holdings, none of them of sufficient importance
to give a name to the hill. It is probable the
name, as it appears in Drumblade, is derived
from heith or heath, ' birch ' and choille, a