Qualla: Dundonald Castle https://qualla.com/dundonald-castle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:16 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/s/dundonald-castle-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Dundonald Castle https://qualla.com/dundonald-castle Dundonald Castle: Introduction https://qualla.com/dundonald-castle/ Photo credit The original uploader was Dreamer84 at English Wikipedia., CC BY 2.5. Around 1000 AD, the timber lacing of the hill fort burned with such intensity that the surrounding stonework actually melted. Archaeologists call this *vitrification* - when stone reaches glass-transition temperatures and fuses. It is rare. It marks fires of extraordinary violence. And it seems to mark the end of the Dark Age hill fort on this Ayrshire hilltop, around the same time the British Kingdom of Strathclyde was being absorbed into the new Kingdom of Scotland. Three and a half centuries later, Robert Stewart climbed the same hill, became king of Scotland as Robert II, and built a new tower house here to celebrate the moment. The hill has been a place of power for as long as anyone can remember, and longer than anyone can prove.

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Image: The original uploader was Dreamer84 at English Wikipedia. | CC BY 2.5

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/s/dundonald-castle-wp/gcus-dundonald-castle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Dundonald Castle: The Fort of Donald https://qualla.com/dundonald-castle/ Photo credit Fraser Sutherland, CC BY 2.5. The place name means "fort of Donald," but the Donald in question is mysterious. The name is derived from the British *Din Dyfnwal* - the cognate of the Scottish Gaelic *Dòmhnall* and the English Donald. The eponym may have been any of several kings of Alt Clut and Strathclyde na...

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Image: Fraser Sutherland | CC BY 2.5

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/s/dundonald-castle-wp/gcus-dundonald-castle-the-fort-of-donald.mp3 0:06 2 full Dundonald Castle: Three Castles, One Hilltop https://qualla.com/dundonald-castle/ Photo credit Otter, CC BY-SA 3.0. Three medieval castles have stood here. The first was probably built by Walter, the first High Steward of Scotland, who came north in 1136 - nothing of it survives above ground. The second was built in the late 13th century by Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward, and was reported...

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Image: Otter | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/s/dundonald-castle-wp/gcus-dundonald-castle-three-castles-one-hilltop.mp3 0:06 3 full Dundonald Castle: Wallaces, Cochranes, and a Long Decline https://qualla.com/dundonald-castle/ Photo credit Otter, CC BY-SA 3.0. By 1520 the castle belonged to the Wallaces of Craigie. James V granted it to Robert Boyd in 1536, but Boyd never managed to take possession, and after a failed second attempt at eviction he gave up and let the Wallaces keep it. Debt forced the Wallaces to sell in 1632 - by then ...

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Image: Otter | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/s/dundonald-castle-wp/gcus-dundonald-castle-wallaces-cochranes-and-a-long-decline.mp3 0:06 4 full Dundonald Castle: Donald Din and the London Bridge Dream https://qualla.com/dundonald-castle/ Photo credit DougRM, CC BY-SA 4.0. There is an old Ayrshire rhyme: *Donald Din / Built his house without a pin.* It refers to Dundonald, supposedly built entirely of stone without wooden pins, by a hero named Donald Din. The folktale goes that Donald was a poor man who dreamed three times in one night that if he w...

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Image: DougRM | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/s/dundonald-castle-wp/gcus-dundonald-castle-donald-din-and-the-london-bridge-dream.mp3 0:06 5 full