Here’s one of my favourite early medieval places: Dumbarton aka Alt Clut aka the Rock of Clyde. Chief royal stronghold of the Strathclyde Britons, besieged by an Anglo-Pictish army in the 8th century and by Vikings in the 9th, before losing its status to Govan during the twilight years of the Clyde kingdom.

For me, this is the most visually-striking of all Scottish “hillforts” despite the urban/industrial sprawl that surrounds it.

The traditional (i.e. ubiquitous) view shown here was taken from West Ferry, a convenient lay-by off the A8 on the southern bank of the Clyde.

The famous Pictish symbol stone in Aberlemno churchyard depicts a sculptured cross on the front and a battle scene on the reverse. The battle has often been assumed to be the one fought at Dunnichen Hill in 685, when the Pictish king Brude mac Bili defeated the Northumbrian English.

There has always been some uncertainty about the identification, chiefly because the stone was carved at least two generations after the Battle of Dunnichen. This has led to other military campaigns being proposed as more likely candidates. One campaign that seems to fit the stone’s mid-8th century date is the subjugation of Dal Riada by Oengus mac Fergus in the 730s. Another is a victory by Oengus over the Strathclyde Britons in 744. If either of these suggestions is correct then the Aberlemno battle-scene commemorates the military successes of Oengus rather than the earlier triumph of Brude.

Two Pictish symbols are carved above the battle-scene. The larger of these is a notched rectangle & Z-rod; the smaller a triple disc. Together they could represent the names Oengus and Fergus in the way that other Early Christian memorials elsewhere in Britain display the Latin inscription “X, son of Y”. This credible solution to the mystery of the Aberlemno churchyard stone was suggested by W.A. Cummins on page 103 of his book The picts & their symbols (1999). I think he may be right.