Dumyat

Dumyat

Dumyat or Dunmyat Dùn Mhèad in Gaelic, is a grand wee hill. Just on the edge of the Ochils, above Stirling. It is a "Marilyn", being only 1370 ft or so high but in spite of its lack of height, the views are superb.

There are two tops, Dumyat and Castle Law, the latter being the site of an old Iron Age fort that gave its name to the whole hill. Dun Meaetae, the fort of the Meatae, a Brythonic tribe or federation of tribes living just beyond the Antonine Wall in Roman Britain who caused a lot of trouble for the invaders until they were eventually bought off.

The Castle Law fort is just discernible with piles of stones that must be the remains of the ramparts, heaped into cairns. 

In its prime, it must have been difficult to attack  with near vertical slopes on three sides and a deep natural cleft on the fourth.

Castle Law- the deep cleft can be seen on the right

The defensive cleft

Dumyat itself is topped by a memorial to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, a seat depicting a black hole in the memory of the O.U. mathematician, Michael Simpson, a beacon and a trig point.

Memorial seat

The main reason for climbing Dumyat is the views.

Looking north there is a great sweep of mountains from Ben Lomond to Ben Lawers. Ben Venue, Ben Ledi, and Ben Vorlich with Stuc a' Chroin can all be seen and Ben More glimpsed in the background.

Looking south  you see the meandering course of the Forth and Stirling with the Wallace monument.

The view also takes in the Sheriffmuir, site of the battle between Jacobite and Hanoverian forces in the 1715 rising. The pro-government forces under John Campbell, Duke of Argyll held the Highland army under the Earl of Mar and stopped it linking up with Jacobite forces in the south thus effectively ending the '15 rebellion.

Sheriffmuir

An interesting wee hill is Dumyat