Was Alt Clut The Most Powerful Sub-Roman British Citadel?

it's early it's really early it's so early greg's isn't even open yet i've got this cheap imitation here instead but uh why are we up so early you may ask well we're off to an early medieval hill fort of course let's go have a look keep going north from mercia past the humber past hadrian's wall past the time eventually you'll cross the border [Music] but this wasn't always the border in fact 1200 years ago the map looked very different home to kingdoms and countries that simply don't exist today my name's pete kelly i'm a writer and a filmmaker [Music] back in the winter of 2019 i went north to modern day scotland to one of the most famous ancient hill forts of all to have a look for myself the center of a powerful early medieval polity a storied british kingdom which after the fall of rome dictated affairs in its unique corner of the north for centuries famous in arthurian myth and actual history alike this was one of the most important strongholds in the north from the mysterious pre-literate epoch before the romans came to britain [Music] until its final destruction at the hands of 9th century vikings under the command of ivar the boneless today it's the oldest castle in scotland it has a football ground right next to it and it can be seen from the local morrisons car park i'm here at dumbarton rock let's get to the top [Music] so it's uh seven hours later and we're finally here and this is what we're gonna see [Music] ah sunny scotland [Music] just outside of glasgow dumbarton is a place to visit today home to fishing boats kebab shops and tower blocks [Music] it wasn't always like this however as i head over to the public park sitting across the river from the rock my mind wanders to the people who lived here more than a thousand years ago there were no bridges over the clyde back then any ships coming up the water from the irish sea could only go as far as the rock the gatekeeper of any traveller wishing to head on into the interior of course huge amounts of wealth would filter in [Music] in the last few hundred years many people found themselves imprisoned here by the scottish crown from jacobite rebels to englishmen but long before that this place was a capital in its own right [Music] of a british kingdom of its own it used to be an island too before the dredging of the clyde in those days you could only approach by boat of course i'm on foot and i begin the long walk back around to the fort [Music] as i go i think of the very first historical records of this place and another visitor who made the same journey we know him as st patrick by the 4th century a.d rome's influence had long made its way into the riverways of the north and even the world view of the romans had come here too with christian missionaries like ninian making significant inroads of course not everyone was so convinced and particularly as rome's influence waned due to conquest and collapse on the continent a unique patchwork of faiths began to form here on the clyde the british tribal confederation during those days were the damn eye once clients have roamed beyond the wall by the late 5th century however after rome pulled out of britain entirely things began to change unlike the neighbouring votadini to the east in modern-day lothian whose tribal identity survived to become the kingdom of godothin the damnonii faded away in their place a new identity appears alt klut the kingdom of the rock a formidable pirate lair for a new dynasty of kings their power no doubt forged in the fires of war and just maybe rejection of the roman world and the christianity which came with it how do we know all this well like all records of this time we don't know for certain but the evidence here is better than most astonishingly we have a letter written by one of the most famous figures of this age the patron saint of ireland saint patrick [Music] and whilst the recipient of the letter could be interpreted differently generally it is taken to be king caroticus of dumbarton rock the instigator of vicious raids against patrick's newly converted followers in ireland according to the horrified st patrick the warriors of the rock were slavers and friends to the heathen picts anything else is hard to say such is post-roman britain in the years that follow we have cryptic mentions of warbands and kings in much later welsh writings but little concrete information to go on as i approached the rock huge volcanic slabs and battlements looming over me i think of those men and women who lived here over the centuries waging generation after generation of war upon their pictish neighbours to the north gaelic speaking dalriatans to the north west and finally anglo-saxon newcomers from the south [Music] the fortifications we see today are mostly later medieval in their construction there's cannons too and precision cut masonry optimistically capable of withstanding cannons [Music] but underneath the older history still remains too [Music] it's only later on higher up into the center of the mound that the real ancient history of the place can be felt [Music] heading up past the initial gateway the defenses are daunting to directly attack this way at any point in the past would be suicide for an opposing warrior steep unseen platforms rise up above the walkway offering the defenders an excellent selection of vantage points to hurl projectiles arrows and hot burning oil on anyone foolish enough to attack there's a reason why this place has very rarely fell to an opposing army it must have been a harrowing experience for any invaders such as the 9th century vikings under ivar who chose instead to starve the defenders out but this place was already ancient by that time [Music] the view from the top just like at most hill forts in britain is simply incredible 360 degree views all round it's easy to see why this place was occupied for so long only a handful of locations in britain can offer similar levels of natural defenses to rival clyde rock tintagel in cornwall and dunatar further north being a couple but maybe they don't even make the cut formed from a dead volcano many millions of years ago at least since as far back as the iron age this has been a strategically vital place clearly visible in archaeology in the 1970s excavations here uncovered high status items from the early roman period onwards a testament to the powerful pro-roman client kings who once held sway but it's after the romans leave that the story gets really wild in the ninth century the rock may be the fort of the britons referred to by the writer nenius as one of the 28 cities of sub-roman britain in myth visited by merlin and arthur [Music] finally by the late 6th century the kingdom begins to emerge into written history its ruler one of the most well-recorded in the entire period [Music] a mighty warlord and participant in many of the most famed battles of the age [Music] featuring as an integral figure in both welsh and latin works for centuries to come and frequently confirmed by irish writers too often thought to have originated in a lost chronicle from the island monastery of iona we know him as reddick heil [Music] adam nan the chronicler of saint columba speaks of an alliance between redec and columba with the latter perhaps acting as a facilitator between redec and the other foremost warlord of the north ayden mack gebrain irish ruler of the western isles for centuries the ancient celtic confederacies of the damnonii and the appediai of the isles had engaged in raids and sea battles and as their descendants both emerge onto the pages of history the enmity and unease between the two groups can be felt in the welsh sources usually portrayed as a wily figure not to be trusted the dowry art and warbands of aiden mac gabriele had already ravaged their way around the shores of northern britain by the time of the confrontation recorded by adam now and a war between the two kingdoms may have already taken place leading to the enmity between the two men perhaps reflected in a lost epic poem unfortunately if a tradition of poetry did exist on the rock which many scholars think possible all was put to the torch when ivar the boneless raised the fortress to the ground leaving mere scraps here and there in the other surviving traditions from neighboring kingdoms yet nonetheless reddeck does survive also appearing in the life of saint kenticon the founder of glasgow as far as later british and welsh writers were concerned the most important battle of all during this time wasn't fought between irishmen and brits or anglo-saxons but between the british kingdoms themselves and after it but what is now the border between england and scotland the aggressor of that battle wielding his sword wide hilt atop his mighty steed dun grey according to the later triads was reddick the location for that fight just maybe a lost fortress called little strength but that's a story for another day unlike most warlords of this time redeck is said to have survived through into the 7th century to die a peaceful death in his own bed the result of success in war and shrewd politicking perhaps [Music] but his successors wouldn't be so lucky [Music] for in the south a new power was arising culminating in the great battle of dexter stan as the bonitian warlord ethel frith wiped out the warbands of aiden mackabrain with very likely a contingent from the rock present too [Music] the view from clyde rock today is one of terraced housing questionable kebab shops and industrial estates a far cry from medieval british war leaders resplendent and shimmering metal and gilded armor it's difficult to picture the lines of warbands heading south to war from here but we know that this is what happened for centuries to come for unlike any other northern british kingdom this one survived by the mid 7th century as the ascendant anglo-saxon realm of northumbria annexed kingdom after kingdom the rulers of alt klut may have turned their attentions to the north becoming overlords of a portion of picked land for a time [Music] by 642 the annals of ulster and a later poetic tradition record the last attempt by dalriata to seize overlordship of the north as aidan's successor domnell came down from the islands with a large army to face off against owen app belly of the rock owen triumphed and the power of dalriata was broken for good here however the picture becomes ever more confused and unrecorded perhaps a result of the many sieges of dumbarton that would follow this was a highly sought after location in 756 a joint force of picts and northumbrians may have seized the place only to lose it again a few days later by 870 however the fall would be permanent as an armada of 200 ships of norsemen besieged the place for four months sailing off with a huge prey of britons pics and english captives including the king arthgal abdifnol who died in the next year arthgal's son however survived but the britons would never rule the rock again relocating further inland to govern to form a new kingdom strathclyde which would survive as a major player for hundreds of years to come dumbarton rock lay dormant until it became a scottish castle in the 13th century today most visitors don't realise the origins of this place as a capital of british kings thanks for watching don't forget to subscribe to my main channel history time where i delve much more deeply into britain's early medieval past [Music] where would you like to see me visit next let me know what you think in the comments and i'll see you next time you

Channel: Pete Kelly

Views: 74,283

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Id: SyITw15wgzg

Length: 22min 59sec (1379 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 17 2021