ARCHAEOLOGISTS claim that the vitrified remains of a fortress in Galloway may once have been a royal stronghold at the centre of a lost kingdom. New discoveries on the site at Trusty’s Hill, the Stewartry, have revealed that the fortress may have been built in the Dark Ages, between the fifth and seventh centuries AD, and not during the Iron Age, as first thought. A newly found spearhead dates from around that time, while sixth century pottery from Africa shows the fortress could only have been home to someone of “the very highest status”, such as a king.

A Pictish carved stone at the fort’s entrance could be evidence of an alliance between Britons and Picts, from north of the Firth of Forth, possibly through a “royal” marriage. Archaeologists are searching the site to solve the 200-year mystery of the Pictish carving.