Trusty's Hill

Trusty's Hill

Shown within Dumfries and Galloway
Location	near Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries and Galloway
Coordinates	54°52′43.97″N 4°12′3.42″W
OS grid reference	NX58895601
Type	hillfort
Length	29 m (95 ft)
Width	17 m (56 ft)
Area	0.04 ha (0.099 acres) (summit enclosure)
History
Founded	c. 600 AD
Abandoned	early 7th century
Site notes
Excavation dates	1960, 2012
Scheduled monument
Designated	19 January 1926
Reference no.	SM1100

Trusty's Hill is a small vitrified hillfort about a mile to the west of the present-day town of Gatehouse of Fleet, in the parish of Anwoth in the Stewartry district of Dumfries and Galloway.

The site is notable for a carved Pictish stone located near the entrance to the fort, one of only a handful of such stones found outside the core Pictish heartland of North-East Scotland. A 2012 archaeological investigation found evidence of feasting and high-status metalworking at the site, and what has been interpreted as a constructed ceremonial processional route. Together these have led to speculation that the site might have been an important centre or location of royal inaugurations for a Brythonic kingdom centred in Galloway and South-West Scotland, circa 600 AD — perhaps to be identified with the elusive north British kingdom of Rheged, which gained greatest prominence under its legendary leader Urien at a similar time in the late 6th century before apparently utterly disappearing in the early 7th century.

Description and history

• 
  1856 drawing of the symbols on the stone. To the left is a double disc with Z-rod, to the right a fish monster and a sword. The head with antennae is a 19th-century addition.
• 
  The stone in 2015, protected by an iron grille.

Further reading

• Toolis, Ronan; Bowles, Christopher (2017). The Lost Dark Age Kingdom of Rheged: the Discovery of a Royal Stronghold at Trusty’s Hill, Galloway. Oxford: Oxbow Books. ISBN 9781785703119. (Publisher's website; JSTOR; Google Books). Official published report of the 2012 investigation.
• Toolis, Ronan; Bowles, Christopher (24 October 2012). "Excavation and Survey of Trusty's Hill – Summary Report" (PDF). The Galloway Picts Project. illustrated by Gillian McSwan & Fiona Jackson. Retrieved 5 December 2024.

External links

• Historic Environment Scotland. "Trusty's Hill, Anwoth (63641)". Canmore.
• Ronan Toolis (May 2017), Rheged rediscovered: uncovering a lost British kingdom in Galloway, Current Archaeology, 327
• James Hoare (31 January 2017), The Lost Kingdom of Rheged: What the Trusty’s Hill dig can tell us about Celtic Britain, History Answers
• Discovery of Lost Dark Age Kingdom In Galloway, Guard Archaeology, 15 January 2017
• The Galloway Picts Project, Excavation website
• A Window on Dark Age Galloway, Gatehouse of Fleet community and visitor website, Gatehouse Development Initiative.