The Red Well: Roman Ruin or Victorian Fancy?

An information board stands nearby the well, quoting local caretaker Charles M Napier. He was certain the building was Roman. His proof was the doorway. It measures out in neat metres, he wrote, and that alone told him the builders worked in Roman measurements.¹Napier, Charles M. “The Red Well at Whitehills.” Whitehills & District Community Council, https://whitehillsandboyndie.co.uk/the-red-well/. Accessed 4 Sept. 2026.

Here is the snag. Metres did not exist until the 1790s, invented in Revolutionary France.²“Metric System.” Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/science/metric-system-measurement. Accessed 4 Sept. 2026. Rome had been gone from Britain for well over a thousand years by then. A doorway measuring out tidily in metres points to a later date, not an earlier one, whatever the board beside it claims.

Napier’s other observation is harder to dismiss. On the spring and autumn equinox, he watched sunrise over Troup Head send a shaft of light straight through the doorway, lighting the well’s interior while the land around stayed dark. He photographed it for years. That part, at least, sounds like careful watching rather than wishful thinking.

Official heritage records take a plainer view. The well is fed by an iron-rich spring long said to hold healing properties, and it carries no historic designation whatsoever. A well-loved local landmark, then. Not a Roman one.³“Building Record MAB17293 – Red Well, Whitehills.” Aberdeenshire Historic Environment Record, https://her.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/Monument/MAB17293. Accessed 4 Sept. 2026.

Go for the equinox light and the rust-stained step. But don’t believe everything you read on noticeboards.

• 1
  Napier, Charles M. “The Red Well at Whitehills.” Whitehills & District Community Council, https://whitehillsandboyndie.co.uk/the-red-well/. Accessed 4 Sept. 2026. ↩︎
• 2
  “Metric System.” Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/science/metric-system-measurement. Accessed 4 Sept. 2026. ↩︎
• 3
  “Building Record MAB17293 – Red Well, Whitehills.” Aberdeenshire Historic Environment Record, https://her.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/Monument/MAB17293. Accessed 4 Sept. 2026. ↩︎