Dunadd

Dunadd is a hillfort near Lochgilphead in Argyll and Bute. It stands on a rocky crag that once may have been an island in the River Add. The surrounding land was once a vast bog called the Mòine Mhòr, which helped make the site easier to defend. Sea levels have dropped since the site was first used, leaving the fort inland. Dunadd was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Dál Riata in early centuries AD. The fort overlooks a landscape of reclaimed moorland and gentle hills. Dunadd is important because it was the seat of kings and the site of royal coronation rituals. Carved on the rock are a footprint and a basin thought to have been used in these ceremonies. There is also a Pictish-style boar carving and an ogham inscription dated to the late 8th century. The Annals of Ulster mention sieges of Dunadd in 683 and 736. In 736, the Pictish king Aengus seized the fort and took two sons of Selbach prisoner. Excavations have found tools, weapons and jewellery-making moulds from the 6th to 8th centuries. A visitor climbs the rocky outcrop to see the upper enclosure and the carved footprint and basin. Nearby is the incised boar and the ogham inscription. The site is surrounded by the remains of ancient round houses and a Bronze Age cemetery seven kilometres to the north. The landscape includes modern farms and cottages, blending the past with the present. The views stretch over the reclaimed moorland and the hills beyond. The carvings and ruins offer a direct link to the rituals and power of early medieval kings.