Location | near Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries and Galloway |
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Coordinates | 54°52′43.97″N 4°12′3.42″W / 54.8788806°N 4.2009500°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 |
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. Recent (2012) archaeological investigation has also 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.