Region : Borders Home
District : Berwickshire Map
Town or village : Preston List
Grid Reference : NT 772 603 Glossary
Period : Late BC-AD 200 Bibliography
Edinshall
(Edin's Hall)

BROCH, FORT, SETTLEMENT
Edinshall image

 
This Iron Age broch, built on the slopes of Cockburn Law overlooking the valley of Whiteadder Water (Borders), is one of the best preserved and few brochs of southern Scotland. Its walls still stand up to 2m high. The interior is very large for a broch measuring 17m in diameter. The entrance passage and its guard-chambers are still visible, and there are three cells within the 5m thick wall.
The broch, probably dated around 100 AD, is surrounded by the remains of an earlier oval fort, once defended by double ramparts and ditches, and a later settlement of hut circles and enclosures.
The site was excavated in the 19th century, but little was found.
The name Edin's Hall comes from the legendary giant Etin. He had three heads and went around with a bull on his shoulders and a sheep under each arm, plundering the surrounding farms and kidnapping the local farmers. A 2-ton boulder still visible in Whiteadder Water is said to be a pebble which Etin tipped from his shoe.
In care of Historic Scotland