Is Beregonium the Lost Capital of Dalriada?

The Search for a Forgotten Seat of Power

May 11, 2025

In the rolling hills above Loch Etive, close to the present-day village of Benderloch, lies a collection of enigmatic ruins known as Beregonium. To the casual observer, it’s a windswept hill fort of moss-covered stones, but to historians, antiquarians, and romantics alike, it may be something far more significant: a potential lost capital of the ancient kingdom of Dalriada.

Dalriada (or Dál Riata) was a Gaelic overkingdom straddling the Irish Sea, encompassing parts of modern-day western Scotland and northeastern Ireland during the late 5th to early 9th centuries. Its power base moved over time, but the question remains—could Beregonium have once been its political or ceremonial heart?

Let’s investigate the evidence—legend, archaeology, and geography—behind the theory that Beregonium is not just another hill fort, but the capital that launched a kingdom.

Dalriada: A Kingdom Across the Sea

Dál Riata was unique among early medieval polities: a seaborne Gaelic kingdom connecting Antrim in Ireland with Argyll in Scotland. The Irish annals record that Irish Gaels migrated eastward, establishing a colony that would grow to exert influence in the Western Isles, Argyll, and eventually across all of Scotland under Kenneth MacAlpin in the 9th century.

Traditional history places Dunadd, near Kilmartin Glen, as the capital of Scottish Dalriada—a rocky fortress with impressive archaeological finds, including inscriptions, a ceremonial footprint, and metalworking debris. It’s even referenced in the Senchus fer n-Alban, an early medieval census and tribute list.

So where does Beregonium fit into this picture?

Beregonium: Fort of Fire and Myth

The site known today as Beregonium is located on a prominent hill called Dun Mac Uisneachan. The name suggests ancient connections—either with the legendary Sons of Uisnach or with Gaelic clans that came from Ireland. The fort shows extensive vitrification: the walls were subjected to intense heat, fusing stones into a kind of proto-glass, a method used in dozens of other Scottish hill forts, though its purpose remains debated.

Unlike Dunadd, Beregonium has no inscriptions or clear signs of a kingly inauguration site, but it has other intriguing features:

Strategic location: Overlooks Loch Etive, with sea access to the Hebrides and Ireland.
Multi-phase occupation: The site was used, rebuilt, and repurposed across centuries, suggesting long-term importance.
Connection to oral tradition: Locals and early chroniclers considered it ancient and royal—Hector Boece and other 16th-century writers even identified it as a capital of early "Scots."
Enigmatic finds: Bronze ornamentation, animal bones, querns, and vitrified stone suggest both habitation and symbolic burning.

If Beregonium wasn't the political capital, might it have been a ceremonial center? Or perhaps an earlier base of power, before the Dalriadic kings moved south to Dunadd?

Capital, Colony, or Confusion? Interpreting the Evidence

Historians are often wary of assigning capital status to early medieval sites without hard evidence. The lack of textual references to Beregonium in early sources complicates the case. However, we must consider a few key ideas:

Multiple Capitals: Like many early kingdoms, Dalriada may have had several power centers. Kings were itinerant; they ruled from moving courts, not fixed capitals. Beregonium may have been one such royal stronghold, serving specific functions—military, ritual, or dynastic.
Chronological Layers: The vitrification of the fort predates the known height of Dalriada. However, reoccupation and modification suggest that the site remained significant into the early Christian period. This would align with a time when Dalriada’s influence was spreading in Argyll.
Legend as Clue: The connection of Beregonium to the Sons of Uisnach may not be literal history, but it implies deep cultural memory—of Irish nobles exiled in Alba, of Gaelic-speaking elites shaping early Scottish identity. Myths often preserve truth in symbolic form.
Geopolitical Placement: Beregonium sits at a crossroads—between inland glens and the sea, Ireland and Scotland, myth and materiality. Such liminal spaces often housed important religious or dynastic activities.

Thus, while Beregonium may lack the royal graffiti and artifacts of Dunadd, its prominence and mystery leave open the possibility that it once played a key role in the formation of Gaelic Scotland.

Conclusion: A Capital in the Shadows?

Is Beregonium the lost capital of Dalriada?

Maybe not the capital—but possibly a capital.

As with so much of early medieval history, the truth is fragmented. Beregonium could have been one of several elite residences of the Dalriadic kings—or a sacred seat of earlier Gaelic settlers, whose memory was preserved in story and stone. Its vitrified ruins still whisper of fire and fortitude, of people who watched the seas for allies or enemies, and perhaps of kings who ruled in shadow before history wrote their names.

Until more is unearthed—literally or textually—Beregonium will remain a site of tantalizing possibility. A forgotten capital, a ceremonial citadel, or a myth-made-real... it deserves to stand beside Dunadd, not beneath it.