Upper Manbeen Butter Well Elgin, Moray, Scotland, UK
A surface well beside a former trackway, on the north slope of Gallow Hill and 375m SW of Upper Manbeen farmhouse.
Scheduled Monument Statement of Significance
© Crown Copyright text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland, reprinted under the Open Government License.
This monument is of national importance as a material illustration of the public munificence of a later 17th-century tenant or landowner towards agricultural labourers and wayfarers.
Scheduled Monument Description
© Crown Copyright text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland, reprinted under the Open Government License.
A surface well beside a former trackway, on the north slope of Gallow Hill and 375m SW of Upper Manbeen farmhouse. The wellhead is covered by a stone slab, in front of which (on the north), set in the ground but possibly not in its original position is a stone block bearing the inscription; EX DONO DEI/BIBITE GRATIS/MHUSP. The back edge of the well is defined by a second block bearing the date 1699 around a small pointed-arched niche, possibly intended to hold a beaker.
It is possible that the first block was originally set on top of the second. The initials MHU and SP also appear on a marriage stone reused in Upper Manbeen farmhouse (rebuilt in the 19th century), together with the motto STANDFAST and the date 1698. The persons involved have yet to be identified. The scheduled area includes the well, the inscribed stones, and surrounding area, having a radius
of 2m, centred on the well, as indicated in red on the accompanying map.