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Publication Account
Date 1987
Event ID 1016978
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016978
The isolated and craggy hill of Dundurn commands extensive views to east and west along Strathearn and was an ideal choice of location for a Dark Age stronghold. Strathearn was the major route between Scottish Dalriada and southern Pictland, and it is likely that Dundurn was a Pictish fort deliberately situated in the borderland between the two. It is mentioned in the monastic annal compiled on Iona as having been under siege, 'obsessio Duin Duirn', in AD 683, although the annalist unfortunately saw no need to identify either the besiegers or the besieged. Excavations in the 1970s confirmed that the site had been occupied in the 7th century, probably in the form of a small wooden fortification on the summit of the hill; this was subsequently rebuilt in stone and a series of outer walls were built to enclose the terraces below. After the union of the Picts and Scots, Dundurn seems to have lost its strategic importance and the fort was finally abandoned sometime in the 10th or 11th century.
The visible walls take maximum advantage of the natural shape of the hill, with an oval citadel on the summit and four lower enclosures following the rocky terraces. At the west end of the hill, a series of less obvious earthen banks and scarps represent stock enclosures and cultivation terraces, which may be contemporary with the fort, but their date is uncertain and they could equally well belong to more recent times. The overall design of the fort is very similar to that of the contemporary Scottic stronghold at Dunadd in Argyll, and, like Dunadd, the objects found at Dundurn are of a high quality that confirms the importance of the site. They include an elaborately decorated leather shoe (luckily preserved by waterlogged conditions), a silver-plated bronze strap-end and a superb glass boss made of dark green and white glass swirled together and further decorated by blue and white spirals.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Fife and Tayside’, (1987).
