Ancient Alba

The Dunfallandy Pictish stone www.canmore.org.uk Just outside of Pitlochry at a place called Dunfallandy, there is a Class II Pictish stone. This is probably one of my favourite Pictish stones. The stone dates to around the 8th/9th centuries. It’s located on a small hill or mound on the west bank of the River Tummel. The mound overlooks some fields towards the west. The stone has been placed in a small shelter to protect it from the weather. On one side of the stone, there’s an ornately carved Christian cross. There are animals, beasts and angels on either side of the cross. On the other side, there are three figures. There are two figures sitting on thrones, probably a man and a woman. Below, there’s a figure on horseback. They’re probably clergy or royalty, or both. Many monks and nuns were actually princes and princesses, who chose the religious life. The Dunfallandy Pictish stone was known as Clach an t-Sagairt, the Priest’s stone in Gaelic. Dunfallandy is located in an area called...

In the Anglo-Saxon chronicles, there is an entry for the year 508AD which refers to a British king called Natanleod who is killed by King Cerdic of Wessex with 5,000 of his men at a place called Netley Marsh. According to the Anglo-Saxon chronicles,  “This year Cerdic and Cynric slew a British king, whose name was Natanleod, and five thousand men with him. After this was the land named Netley, from him, as far as Charford.” Netley Marsh is in Hampshire on the south coast of England. King Cerdic supposedly landed on the south coast with his son Cynric in 495AD with ship loads of Anglo-Saxon warriors. When the Romans withdrew from Britannia in 410AD, the Anglo-Saxons, Scots and Picts raided Britannia. A king of the Britons called Vortigern supposedly recruits the Anglo-Saxons as mercenaries to fight the Scots and Picts. After defeating the Scots and Picts, the Anglo-Saxons turn on Vortigern and the Britons. Ambrosius Aurelianus, a Roman Briton rallies the Britons and defeats the Angl...