Kinneddar

[11] The site was surrounded by vallum ditches first cut during the 7th century[11] enclosing an area of 8.6 hectares[12] – the largest such enclosure discovered within the territory of Northern Pictland.

[12] The scale and layout of the site is very similar to that of Iona Abbey, suggesting that the establishment of Kinneddar may have been connected with the church of Columba.

[19] Particularly significant is the carving on a fragment of a panel representing the biblical King David wrenching open the jaws of a lion.

[21] The Pictish sculptures found in the vicinity of the castle and kirkyard point to the area being an important 8th-century Christian centre (see Culdees) and may have been a principal location for the conversion of the Picts.

[24] One of these may have been the oratory or cell with a "stone bed" established at Kinneddar by the early medieval saint Gervadius, according to the 16th century Aberdeen Breviary.

[25] In 1207/8 the seat of the diocese moved again with Spynie being confirmed as the cathedral of Moray by Pope Innocent III.

[29][30] The palace was attacked and burned by Robert the Bruce and David de Moravia in 1308, but was repaired and recorded as the residence of Bishop Alexander Bur in 1383.

[32] The ruinous structure still existed in 1734 and was described as being a central tower enclosed by two concentric hexagonal walls which made it unique in Scottish terms.