Dunstaffnage Castle, across the Bay of Selma, now Ardmucknish Bay. Ardmucknish Bay today is largely unspoiled and can be seen much as it was fifteen hundred years ago, when its strategic position commanding the approaches to the Sound of Mull, Firth of Lorn, and the great sea lochs, Linnhe, Creran, and Etive made it vital to anyone determined to hold the north of Argyll.
The Stone of Destiny was to remain at Beregonium during the reigns of twelve kings before it was moved south to “Evonium,” Dunstaffnage. In the ninth century, when the depredations of the Vikings made it unsafe to keep the Stone of Destiny in the west, it was taken to Scone, near Perth, and kept there until 1296. In that year Edward I, king of England, “Hammer of the Scots,” attempted to steal it as part of a campaign to denude the Scottish nation of its identity.
Fortunately for Scotland, the Stone of Destiny was hidden, and Edward was fobbed of with a lump of Perthshire sandstone. The fake stone was taken south to Westminster Abbey, where it was used inEnglish coronations until the Union of the Crowns of Scotland and England in 1603, after which the fake stone was used to crown British monarchs. It was “loaned” to Scotland in 1296 and is now kept in Edinburgh Castle. 1
Following his successes against the Picts in the north of Argyll and having divided the land he had conquered among his supporters, Fergus set off back to Ireland to help quell a rebellion. He died when his ship was driven onto the rocks at what is now Carrickfergus. Fergus had been in Scotland for about two years.
Domangart Mac Fergus succeeded his father. Domangart was Arthur Mac Aedan’s great-grandfather. He was known as Domangart of Kintyre, which suggests that while Fergus was fighting in the north of Argyll, Domangart was charged with subduing the south. It is perhaps indicative of the ferocity of the opposition mounted by the native people of Argyll that six years after becoming king Domangart too was dead (circa 507).
Domangart was survived by his two young sons, Comgall, who was to succeed him as king of the Scots, and Gabhran, Arthur Mac Aedan’s grandfather. Fergus and Domangart had established a foothold only. It would be generations before their kin could say with reason that their hold on Argyll was secure. Then all Argyll would resound to the name of Arthur, at least for a time. Today Arthur’s name echoes only faintly about the glens and hills where he fought most of his most famous battles, but echo it does
The visitor’s information map at Cadzow Hill, Hamilton, where Merlin-Lailoken was born, shows the names of hills to the north and west. The name most worn by countless pointing fingers is Ben Arthur, the Hill of Arthur.
Ben Arthur is generally accepted as having been named in honor of the legendary Arthur, despite the fact that the legendary Arthur is usually said to have been a man of the south. Skene thought a southern Arthur came north, fought a few battles on the banks of Loch Lomond, and then went home, leaving behind the memory of his heroics to be commemorated in the hill-name, Ben Arthur. Why would a southern Arthur do that? It just does not make sense.
The alternative explanation is that the fame of some southernArthur was so great that, for some unknown reason, his name came to be attached to this a northern hill. This begs the question: Why this particular hill?
Ben Arthur, half way up the west bank of Loch Lomond, commands the great pass that leads up and over the aptly named Rest-and-be-thankful road to the heartlands of Argyll, and so it is perfectly placed to serve as the headquarters of someone charged with protecting the borders of Dalriada from the depredations of the Picts. In the sixth century Loch Lomond formed Dalriada’s border with Pictland in the north and east, Manau in the south and east, and Strathclyde in the south. It is unlikely that that the name Ben Arthur and this strategic location are just a coincidence. It is
The Stone of Destiny was to remain at Beregonium during the reigns of twelve kings before it was moved south to “Evonium,” Dunstaffnage. In the ninth century, when the depredations of the Vikings made it unsafe to keep the Stone of Destiny in the west, it was taken to Scone, near Perth, and kept there until 1296. In that year Edward I, king of England, “Hammer of the Scots,” attempted to steal it as part of a campaign to denude the Scottish nation of its identity.
Fortunately for Scotland, the Stone of Destiny was hidden, and Edward was fobbed of with a lump of Perthshire sandstone. The fake stone was taken south to Westminster Abbey, where it was used inEnglish coronations until the Union of the Crowns of Scotland and England in 1603, after which the fake stone was used to crown British monarchs. It was “loaned” to Scotland in 1296 and is now kept in Edinburgh Castle. 1
Following his successes against the Picts in the north of Argyll and having divided the land he had conquered among his supporters, Fergus set off back to Ireland to help quell a rebellion. He died when his ship was driven onto the rocks at what is now Carrickfergus. Fergus had been in Scotland for about two years.
Domangart Mac Fergus succeeded his father. Domangart was Arthur Mac Aedan’s great-grandfather. He was known as Domangart of Kintyre, which suggests that while Fergus was fighting in the north of Argyll, Domangart was charged with subduing the south. It is perhaps indicative of the ferocity of the opposition mounted by the native people of Argyll that six years after becoming king Domangart too was dead (circa 507).
Domangart was survived by his two young sons, Comgall, who was to succeed him as king of the Scots, and Gabhran, Arthur Mac Aedan’s grandfather. Fergus and Domangart had established a foothold only. It would be generations before their kin could say with reason that their hold on Argyll was secure. Then all Argyll would resound to the name of Arthur, at least for a time. Today Arthur’s name echoes only faintly about the glens and hills where he fought most of his most famous battles, but echo it does
The visitor’s information map at Cadzow Hill, Hamilton, where Merlin-Lailoken was born, shows the names of hills to the north and west. The name most worn by countless pointing fingers is Ben Arthur, the Hill of Arthur.
Ben Arthur is generally accepted as having been named in honor of the legendary Arthur, despite the fact that the legendary Arthur is usually said to have been a man of the south. Skene thought a southern Arthur came north, fought a few battles on the banks of Loch Lomond, and then went home, leaving behind the memory of his heroics to be commemorated in the hill-name, Ben Arthur. Why would a southern Arthur do that? It just does not make sense.
The alternative explanation is that the fame of some southernArthur was so great that, for some unknown reason, his name came to be attached to this a northern hill. This begs the question: Why this particular hill?
Ben Arthur, half way up the west bank of Loch Lomond, commands the great pass that leads up and over the aptly named Rest-and-be-thankful road to the heartlands of Argyll, and so it is perfectly placed to serve as the headquarters of someone charged with protecting the borders of Dalriada from the depredations of the Picts. In the sixth century Loch Lomond formed Dalriada’s border with Pictland in the north and east, Manau in the south and east, and Strathclyde in the south. It is unlikely that that the name Ben Arthur and this strategic location are just a coincidence. It is
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