The
whole area to the north of Tarbert beyond the
town of Lochgilphead surrounds the ancient kingdom
of the Scoti at Dunedd.
You can discover the Gaelic Kingdom of Dál
Riata and the royal centre of Dunadd - a stunningly
beautiful hill fort where a footprint in the
rock marks the inaugural spot where the Gaelic
kings were symbolically married to the land
they were to rule - a consort to the female
nature spirit which the Gaels worshipped from
pagan times. Dunadd hill fort, in Argyll, can
lay claim to being the foundation stone of the
Kingdom of the Scots. It was the royal centre
of the kingdom of Dál Riata, whose kings
became the Kings of Scotland and whose people,
the Gaels, gave Scotland its name and Gaelic
culture.
Dunadd
is a spectacular site to visit and traces of
its Dark Age splendour can still be found. It
lay at the centre of the Dark Age Kingdom of
Dál Riata, which stretched northwards
to Ardnamurchen, west to northern Ireland and
south to Arran and the Mull of Kintyre.
In
its heyday Dunadd would have been an impressive
sight, a single rock outcrop set in the flat
bottom of the Kilmartin Valley. On its upper
slopes Dunadd was surrounded by stone ramparts,
the remains of which can still be seen, and
entry was through a natural cleft in the rock
sealed by wooden gates. Beyond the gate were
houses and workshops for smelting iron and gold.
An important trading centre, many goods flowed
through it: gold from Ireland, wine from southern
Europe, even rare minerals from the far east
used by scribes to colour manuscripts.
Through
a second set of ramparts lay Dunadd’s
summit, possibly the site of the king’s
mead house. Just below the summit, on an outcrop
of rock, lies the inauguration stone of the
Kings of Dál Riata. A footprint carved
into the rock is the most striking and evocative
symbol of Scottish Kingship. Here the king’s
of Dál Riata, from Aedan to Kenneth MacAlpine,
were inaugurated, their followers gathered below.
The
inauguration stone of The Kings of Dal Riata
is pictured below. The King would place his
foot in the hole, symbolising his union with
the land. The stone you see is not the original.
The original was becoming so warn that in the
late 1970s an exact copy was placed over the
top to prevent further erosion.
Kingship
brought expectations: that a new king would
bring fertility, bountiful seasons and success
in war. The ceremony was partly pagan: a symbolic
marriage to the land, with the king’s
bard reciting his genealogy back to his mythic
ancestors; and part Christian: as the kings
were blessed by the abbot of Iona.
Source:
BBC History: www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory
