Dunadd: The Royal Fort of Dál Riata and Its Carved Footprint

Why it matters

Dunadd is a rocky knoll rising out of the flat bog of the Mòine Mhòr, the Great Moss, at the southern end of Kilmartin Glen. Around 1,500 years ago it was the chief stronghold of Dál Riata, the Gaelic kingdom that straddled Argyll and northern Ireland and, in time, grew into the kingdom of Scotland. Its name means the fort on the River Add, which still winds round its foot. Near the top is the carving that makes it famous: a human footprint cut into the bare rock, where, it is generally believed, new kings set their foot to be made rulers of the land.

The footprint and the other carvings

On a sloping slab just below the summit enclosure there are four carvings close together:

• The footprint, a single human foot carved into the rock. Placing a foot in a carved print as part of an inauguration is known from early Irish tradition, and the print at Dunadd is the best-known example in Scotland.
• A small basin, possibly used for anointing or for water in the ceremony.
• A boar, faintly incised in a Pictish style, perhaps a mark left after the Pictish king Óengus seized the fort in 736.
• An ogham inscription in the early Irish alphabet of lines and notches. It has been read as a personal name and dated to the late 8th century or later.

History

People were living on the rock in the Iron Age, but it is the early medieval fort that gives Dunadd its importance. The Annals of Ulster record a siege of Dún At in 683, and in 736 the Pictish king Óengus son of Fergus ravaged Dál Riata and captured it. Occupation carried on into the 9th century, when the centre of power moved east as the Scots and Picts merged into one kingdom.

Excavations in 1904–05, 1929 and 1980 found the debris of a wealthy royal centre: moulds for fine metalwork, quernstones, weapons and tools, and pottery and glass imported from France and the Mediterranean. Dunadd was a place where precious objects were made and given away, which is exactly what early kings did to bind followers to them. Sea levels were higher then, and the rock may have stood close to tidal water, with boats able to come up the Add.

Climbing it

From the small car park by the farm, a path climbs through a natural gateway in the rock and up a series of terraces, each once walled, to the summit. It takes about 15 minutes and is steep and slippery in places, so wear proper footwear. The views over the Mòine Mhòr, up Kilmartin Glen and out towards the Sound of Jura explain at once why kings chose it.

The glen around it

Dunadd is one stop in the richest prehistoric landscape on the Scottish mainland. A few minutes north are the Nether Largie standing stones and Temple Wood circles and the line of Bronze Age burial cairns running down the glen. In the village, Kilmartin Church shelters a fine collection of carved medieval grave slabs. The stone row at Ballochroy in Kintyre is about an hour south.

South-west of Dunadd, the Crinan Canal runs from Ardrishaig to the sea at Crinan, a lovely towpath walk or cycle that skirts the edge of the Great Moss. East over the hill is Loch Fyne and the Campbell town of Inveraray, and to the north the road follows Loch Awe to the ruin of Kilchurn Castle at its head. For more stones with a story, see our guide to the famous stones of Scotland.

Sources

• Historic Environment Scotland — Dunadd Fort.
• Canmore — Dunadd (site record and excavation history).
• Alan Lane and Ewan Campbell, Dunadd: An Early Dalriadic Capital (Oxbow, 2000).
• Annals of Ulster, entries for 683 and 736.