Dunadd - small but perfectly formed.....

25th May, 2010

Dunadd / Dùn Add - "Fort on the River Add" - 53.34m - (Ancient hill fort).

Size isn't everything with hills, despite it's diminutive size Dunadd is arguably the most important hill in Scotland.

Some Dunadd facts!

Dunadd is an Ironage, (and later) hillfort and is thought to have been the capital of the ancient kingdom of Dál Riata.
The hill is a rocky crag which was once surrounded by the bog known as Mòine Mhòr 'Great Moss' in Gaelic. This land has now been drained.
It is thought to have been the sight of the coronation rituals of ancient Scottish kings.
Carvings below the upper enclosure include a footprint and a basin thought to have been used in these rituals. (Although there are no written sources to confirm this).
On the same outcrop is a carved Pictish style boar and an ogham inscription. The inscription allegedly refers to a Finn Manach and is dated to the late 8th century or after, (See below).

A siege at Dunadd is mentioned in the Annals of Ulster, in 683 and in the same work an entry for 736 notes that Óengus son of Fergus, King of the Picts also besieged Dunadd.


We visited this hill in May of this year whilst on a trip to Bute, Mull and Iona with Jackson's lovely parents. The weather was amazing. This part of the trip was a bit of a wander down memory lane for me having been brought up a few miles from here and having gone to Kilmartin primary school (which is no distance at all from Dunadd). I am pleased to say that Scotland was on its best, sunniest behaviour for Jackson's ma & pa! Dunadd now has a little car park at the bottom, (I don't remember this always having been there). It is in the care of Historic Scotland and they have provided a few (not terribly informative) information boards. You follow a little path up the hill and are still able to make out the different terraces. At the summit you find a partial stretch of original wall from the fortress. Dunadd today forms part of the much wider landscape of Kilmartin Glen full of relics of even earlier ages, and much of the glen, (and my old primary school), can be seen from the summit of the fortress.

Lunch, (and dinner for that matter), was provided at the Kilmartin Hotel, who do a mean Cullen Skink.

Pictures:



Ooooh and there is a panorama - Dunadd