Dunadd And Argyll
Dunadd is a natural feature on the landscape of Argyll in what is now Western Scotland. The photo below shows how there is a footprint in the rock on top of this outcropping. It was used by the kings and Lords in the crowning ceremonies…. If the foot fits he can become king !
It’s a stunning location that lies at the heart of an ancient kingdom called Dalriada or Dalriata. This spanned Northern Ireland and Argyll along with many islands. Through much of Britain’s Dark Ages, Scotland as it’s now called was broken up into many kingdoms.
Of these, the four most important to emerge were the Picts, the Gaels of Dál Riata, the Britons of Alt Clut, and the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia. After the arrival of the Vikings in the late 8th century, Scandinavian rulers and colonies were established on the islands and along parts of the coasts. In the 9th century, the House of Alpin combined the lands of the Scots and Picts to form a single kingdom which constituted the basis of the kingdom of Scotland. There is some debate over whether Dalriada became a party to this.
In this early period, changes in settlement and colonisation meant that the Pictish and Brythonic languages began to be subsumed by Gaelic, Scots, and, at the end of the period, by Old Norse. Life expectancy was relatively low, leading to a young population, with a ruling aristocracy, freemen, and relatively large numbers of slaves. Kingship was multi-layered, with different kings surrounded by their war bands that made up the most important elements of armed forces, and who engaged in both low-level raiding and occasional longer-range, major campaigns.
Anyway, on one delightfully sunny afternoon, my small tour group and I, climbed up through the rock cutting that led us to the ‘footprint’. As we did so a very well spoken kilted gentleman escorting an older woman ( his mother, we discovered) passed a few pleasantries with us and was excited to know that these North Americans had come so far to visit ‘his’ rock. He introduced himself as the Lord of Argyll !!!!
We spent a while visiting this historic place and then headed back down to our vehicles. Astonished I found him waiting for us. We chatted a little longer, but then he unpinned a large silver brooch from his lapel, and passed it to a member of our group. He wanted us all to remember this special place and to pass the memory forward!
Once again, I have !! .
If you are interested in joining our April tour, to this part of the world, please reach out to me