Reinvestigation of the lower part of the key Quaternary section at Castle Hill,Gardenstown, has shown that the sediments are not in stratigraphical order, but consist chieflyof glaciotectonites, including rafts of soft sediments, which were deposited by ice movingsoutheastwards from the Moray Firth. Sedimentary structures are preserved in some of the rafts,which are separated by subhorizontal shears. The rafts accreted subglacially under conditionsof moderate to high strain, the final glacial event being the deposition of a thin, discontinuoussheet of till, probably derived from a more westerly direction. It is proposed that interbeddeddark grey shelly clay, till and sand elsewhere in northern Banffshire were emplaced, at least inpart, by a similar mechanism during either the Middle Devensian, or more likely, the LateDevensian. Sand and clay with paired bivalve shells, which were formerly exposed within theQuaternary successions at Castle Hill and inland at King Edward, some 12 km to the south, areinterpreted to be within glacigenic rafts, and are notin situdeposits formed during a widespreadmarine transgression. It is suggested that the alternation of phases of constructional and exca-vational deformation within a single glacial event rather than discrete glaciations provides auseful model for glacial deposition in northern Banffshire, and more generally in northeastScotland. 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.