Trusty’s Hill

Cheers, Drew. I feel Galloway's importance in past times will still be underappreciated despite this news..the wooden henges/cursi/avenues disovered around Dunragit by aerial photography and bypass work are another clue that this stature goes back much further to at least 3000 BC. There's more to be found than Ness of Brodgar, I'm sure..more than one fulcrum.

"The location of Rheged had previously been thought by many historians to be in Cumbria." The location of Rheged has also previously been thought by many historians to have been centred on Dunragit (Dun Rheged) at the head of Luce Bay.

While the carvings at Trusty's Hill identify it as a site of some significance, Dunragit IMHO is a much more likely contender to being the centre/ capital of Rheged.

My thoughts (well, based on what reading I've done) Any research from the air must take account of the fact that river channel and shoreline positions have changed significantly over the last 5000+ years there. Google Earth, Bing etc are a boon for those equipped. I may be moving to a place nearby..will be out there, walking...

Several points:

- I've always been very sceptical about the "Pictish carvings" on Trusty's Hill; not concerning their authenticity, but about their location. If you look at the distribution of Pictish sites in Scotland, this site is VERY remote. I've always had a gut feeling that somebody transported them there a LONG time ago.

- Yes, the coastline was higher at some point and I'm sure the Fleet valley was a floodplain. This site is well elevated, but "tucked in" behind the much more pronounced headland subsequently occupied by Cardoness Castle. I wonder what we'd find in THAT area?

- The Trusty's Hill excavation was undertaken back in 2012. It's considered "newsworthy" now because the excavators have finally published their findings, with SOME conclusions. Still a LOT to learn here I think. Good luck, Spencer.......and have a good poke around Cardoness, too!

Ta, and ar, already on my radar : ) My sea level reference was for the Dunragit area, but, true, equally will apply eastward as well as westward, where I've found 'something' just above the old shoreline on the North Channel side of the North Rhins (he said, mysteriously ; ) )

The shore line and coast are little changed at Dunragit with the Piltanton Burn and Water of Luce going into Luce Bay at pretty much the same places for the last 2,000 years anyway. The Torrs Dunes are pretty much intact (even the military use zone) and uneroded Roman Graves were located there last century. Roman Camps and a likely fortlet, roman road and probable roman harbour lie within yards of the two water courses confluence.

The site at Trusty's Hill is NOT as remote as some think. There are Pictish Symbol stones in Shetland and Skye and finds of Pictish Silver chains stretch as far South as South Lanarkshire and as far North as Shetland. The symbols on Trusty's Hill are carved into the bedrock and could not have been transported there Tomatoman! Unless they carried Trusty's Hill there on a donkey's back.

The Fleet Valley has been under cultivation and occupation for a very long time the Fleet rarely floods and has never that in my recollection in my lifetime burst its fine banks and flooded the valley. It is certainly a flat valley but the 1st Century Roman Fort, the Roman Road and prehistoric barrows on the flat low plain prove this area did not lie under water 2,000 years ago. I still fish the Fleet and lived a few hundred yards from Trusty's Hill for some time. The Borland Hills are a strange and atmospheric place.

You beat me to it HD .

Even further south , but not much , is Eggerness which has deer , Pictish in style .

And in Northumberland there's Goatscrag.

Good to get feedback from folks with local knowledge. The rock carvings didn't appear to necessarily be on bedrock, but the grille doesn't make it easy to check out thoroughly..........I bow to your assertion, though. As far as historic flooding is concerned, I'm well aware of the Roman fort.........I was thinking mainly of the valley south of the present Gatehouse settlement.

Hi HD, I was referring to way further back at Dunragit, to the time of the constuction of the artificial mound at very nearby Droughduil... 3500 BC? My understanding is that at that time the shoreline and river channel were significantly different, and that Droughduil was a coastal sand dune. I may be wrong. Nonetheless, some fine info, thanks to all concerned, about a stretch of coast of considerable personal interest. Cheers.

Thank you for the mention of Eggerness, George. Had slipped me. Now keen to see when next up...the areas rock art beckons (but, dammit, all those crannogs etc do too. So much there, it seems)

Trusty's Hill Pictish Symbols are carved into the living rock.

The Torrs Dunes at Luce Bay south of the Piltanton Burn produced many pre-Roman finds as well as the known Roman Graves. Bronze Age and Neolithic finds are much in evidence on the Torrs dunes. The downhill course of the Piltanton Burn remains pretty much as the landscape has dictated for millenia, with only small elements of fairly recent canalisation at points, particularly to the west of Droughduil. It isn't really a river, just a burn which still has excellent runs of Sea-Trout and Salmon. These would have been much more significant in ancient times (for much of the season there would have been two Sea Trout runs per day on the rising tide).

I know they found a sand base at the bottom of the Droughduil mound which they suspect may originally have been part of a dune. There are large sandy areas north of Torrs Warren (nearly half a kilometre South towards Luce Bay of Droughduil). I know dunes can "travel" (and sand can certainly blow). I am just not convinced there has been any huge changes in the Torrs Dunes/ Piltanton Burn course area since the Neolithic.

K, still genning as and when.. do you know anything about other cursuses in the area..are there supposed to have been one or two Inch way? Also an approx GR for any of the tool factories in the dunes'd be m u c h appreciated. Have you looked golf course or St Helena's Is way? I want to check out round the airfield too. Dang, everywhere there, really. Megatwitchy. Sorry : )

Just a thought, how about a TMA site add round there to save my flailing wildly. A bit short of names to give sites there praps. No obligation, I hope to sniff not too far into the future. What do you reckon to that site at Glenluce nr the old line?

Ps, I think I've sussed where the people back then's trading ie wealth hub was..(mysterious wink). Wonderful things, internet, legs, eyes and demibrain. Am after aerial pix to make that conclusive: got most of the jigsaw. And a fekkin laptop to look at them on.