The site near Gatehouse of Fleet could have been at the heart of the kingdom

Archealogists think they have discovered a ‘lost dark age kingdom in Dumfries and Galloway. The sixth century Kingdom of Rheged has always been a mystery, now they believe they have found the Royal Pictish Seat of this Kingdom.

Archaeologists believe the royal seat of Rheged may have been in Galloway

The location of Rheged had previously been thought by many historians to be in Cumbria.

Pictish carvings found in this area made them look closer.

The Pictish carvings at the site which sparked a deeper investigation of the area.

Dr Christopher Bowles, co-director of the excavation work in Dumfries and Galloway, said:

“The new archaeological evidence from Trusty’s Hill enhances our perception of power, politics, economy and culture at a time when the foundations for the kingdoms of Scotland, England and Wales were being laid,” he said.
“The 2012 excavations show that Trusty’s Hill was likely the royal seat of Rheged, a kingdom that had Galloway as its heartland.
“This was a place of religious, cultural and political innovation whose contribution to culture in Scotland has perhaps not been given due recognition.”
Dr Bowles said the influence of the kingdom had “rippled through the history and literature of Scotland and beyond”.
Mr Toolis added that they had not been looking for Rheged when they started the excavations.

The excavation found evidence the area had been a royal stronghold

“What drew us to Trusty’s Hill were Pictish symbols carved on to bedrock here, which are unique in this region and far to the south of where Pictish carvings are normally found,” said Mr Toolis.
“The Galloway Picts Project was launched in 2012 to recover evidence for the archaeological context of these carvings.
“But far from validating the existence of Galloway Picts, the archaeological context revealed by our excavation instead indicates the carvings relate to a royal stronghold and place of inauguration for the local Britons of Galloway around AD 600.
“The new archaeological evidence suggests that Galloway may have been the heart of the lost Dark Age kingdom of Rheged, a kingdom that was in the late sixth century pre-eminent amongst the kingdoms of the north.”

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Bruce is crowned for the second time in two days by Isabel MacDuff, Countess of Buchan. Colour litho by Williams, Morris Meredith (1881-1973).

With attention focused on the approaching 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, it’s worth taking a look at the events and figures instrumental in the lead-up to the momentous battle. Strangely absent from the legends surrounding Bannockburn is the role played by women, even though one largely looked-over heroine enabled Robert the Bruce’s claim to the Scottish throne on this day 708 years ago.

Like a lot of periods in Scottish history, the early 14th century was a rather tumultuous time. Fresh of the back of the the 13th century’s succession disputes, and William Wallace’s failed uprising, Scotland was then ruled as a province of England by Edward I. Bruce had become a guardian of Scotland, alongside his biggest rival for the Scottish throne, John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch. In 1306, Bruce quarreled with Comyn and stabbed him to death at Greyfriars Kirk in Dumfries, cementing a deep hatred between the Bruce and Comyn families.

The killing of John Comyn in the Greyfriars church in Dumfries, as seen by Felix Philippoteaux, a 19th-century illustrator.

Isabel MacDuff, second cousin to Robert the Bruce, had the great misfortune of being married a few years earlier to Comyn’s cousin, John Comyn, Earl of Buchan. Some historians and authors believe she may also have been one of Bruce’s lovers. Following the murder at Greyfriars, it’s safe to say times were tough for Isabel. She took the contrary view to her husband, instead supporting the Bruce by taking the Scottish side in the Scottish Wars of Independence.

Robert’s coronation took place on either March 25 or 26 1306 in Scone, however tradition at the time stated all Kings must be crowned near the stone of destiny and/or anointed by the Kirk. Unfortunately the stone had been removed by Edward I a few years earlier, and the Kirk would have been hardly willing to crown Bruce following his actions at Greyfriars. Another tradition was sought to cement the claim, and it just so happened that the MacDuff clan held a hereditary right to crown Kings of Scotland.

Robert the Bruce and Isabel MacDuff immortalised in stone at Edinburgh Castle

Meanwhile, Isabel’s husband John was in England at this time so, on hearing the news of the impending coronation of the new king, she took her husbands horses and rode to Scone, unfortunately arriving a day late. However, because so many traditional elements of the crowning were absent from the first crowning, a second crowing with Isabel representing the MacDuff family tradition on either the 26th or 27th of March solidified Bruce’s right to the kingship of Scotland, thus effectively cutting off Isabel’s ties to her Comyn family.

Isabel stayed on with Bruce, but was betrayed and captured shortly after Bruce’s defeat at the Battle of Methven in June 1306. Edward I of England ordered her sent to Berwick-upon-Tweed with these instructions:

“Let her be closely confined in an abode of stone and iron made in the shape of a cross, and let her be hung up out of doors in the open air at Berwick, that both in life and after her death, she may be a spectacle and eternal reproach to travellers.”

She was imprisoned in this cage for four years, then moved to the Carmelite friary at Berwick. This was not necessarily a humanitarian move; it is suggested that by this stage Bruce was gaining support, his female relatives were potentially valuable hostages, and the English did not want them to die of ill-treatment. The last clear mention of her is being transferred again in 1313, one year before the Battle of Bannockburn, with her eventual fate uncertain.

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