Tag: Iron Age
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Crown End, Westerdale
The rigg separating Westerdale and Baysdale is mapped as Crown Head. That’s it on the right, rising to 236 metres (774 feet) at its highest point. Baysdale is the nearer valley, Westerdale straight ahead. Crown Head is best known as a site of pre-historic remains, representing activity between the Bronze Age and late Iron Age.…
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Arthur’s Seat
I think half of Edinburgh must have been up Arthur’s Seat today, a hill described by Robert Louis Stevenson as “a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design.” The poor old King of Britain asleep in the depths of the extinct 250-metre high volcano must have been turning in his glass…
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Cairns of Yarrows
I seem to get more of an awareness of the history of a place if some effort is needed to get there. A car park close by and manicured grounds somehow sterilises a site. Yarrows Broch was quite an adventure, through bogs, under fences, and detours to avoid over-friendly horses. 2,000 years ago, the broch…
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Broch of Gurness
This is without doubt the best broch so far. And as an historical site, superior to Skara Brae and the Ring of Brodgar. I know Skara Brae is Neolithic and this broch is Iron Age, a mere 2,000 years old but I must admit I was disappointed by commercialisation of the older site. The Broch…
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Prehistoric Roseberry
I wrote the other day that the name Airyholme (the farm in the centre of the photograph) derives from the Old Norse ǽrgum meaning ‘at the shielings’. That’s the seventh and eighth centuries, but what of earlier times? The Romans seem to have had Cleveland under control, perhaps they felt the Brigantes, the local tribe,…
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Hillend Iron Age Hill Fort
Caerketton Hill is on the north-eastern end of the Pentland Hills outside of Edinburgh. With its dry ski slope, it dominates the view from the Edinburgh bypass. About halfway up is a distinctive knoll that is the site of an Iron Age hill fort. It takes its name from the small hamlet at the foot…
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Percy Rigg Hut Circles
It’s been at least three years since I posted a photo of the Iron Age hut circles at Percy Rigg. This is a group of five circular huts, one of which can be seen in the photo, although not all would have been in use at the same time. The occupants were farmers, probably living…