Dunsinane Hill

Dunsinane Hill
Dunsinane Hill from Black Hill.
Highest point
Elevation	310 m (1,020 ft)
Prominence	c. 53 m
Listing	none
Geography
Location	Perth & Kinross, Scotland
Parent range	Sidlaws
OS grid	NO213316
Topo map	OS Landranger 53

Dunsinane Hill (/dʌnˈsɪnən/ dun-SIN-ən) is near the village of Collace in Perthshire, Scotland. It is mentioned in Shakespeare's play Macbeth. "Macbeth shall never vanquished be, until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him."

It has the remains of two early forts. This is believed to be the site of a battle where Malcolm Canmore defeated Macbeth in 1054. In reality this was only a limited defeat for Macbeth. He was finally beaten and killed by Malcolm Canmore in 1057, at Lumphannan near Aberdeen.

The pronunciation called for in Shakespeare's play has the accent on the first or third syllable, with a long 'a' (i.e. /ˈdʌnsɪneɪn/ or /ˌdʌnsɪˈneɪn/). However the correct pronunciation has the accent on the second syllable, with a short 'a'. The correct spelling of the name is Dunsinnan, Gaelic meaning "The hill of ants."; possibly a reference to the large number of people it took to build the fortress.