Dunaad Hill Fort

This is the next place we visited in Kilmartin Glen. This fort is from the early Medieval time period, and though it is a lonely and craggy spot now, it once was quite a hub of activity. There is a river nearby which winds to the sea (which you can see atop the fort) and many foreign merchants would have come here. One of our guides (all archaeology teachers from the University) told us that the languages you would have heard included: Gaelic, Pictish, Old Welsh and British, Anglo-Saxon and Latin.

Dunaad from a distance

When you struggle up and through the entranceway, your view is aligned with one of the summits, where the inauguration of the ancient kings took place.

The inauguration stone 

It was explained to us that the king was viewed as a father figure, and the earth was viewed as the mother, and when the king was inaugurated it was his marriage to the land, symbolising not only the fertility connected with the king, but his dominion over it - as he stood over it. Also from the high summit the view includes the entire kingdom: the land, the river, the sea, as well as the ancient sacred monuments within the landscape.

One of the views from the top - with the sea in the distance

another view from the top of Dunaad.

The remnant of the stone wall on a summit above the inaugural summit

The well.

This house is on the way to Dunaad. Right there in the yard (in the middle of the picture) is a small standing stone. Imagine having a standing stone in your yard! How would that be? These people have chickens - I heard the familiar sound of roosters crowing, and it made me feel quite at home there!