Eildon Hills On Visit South of Melrose In The Borders Of Scotland

Tour Scotland travel video clip, with Scottish music, of the Eildon Hills on visit South of Melrose in the Scottish Borders. Eildon Hill is usually pluralised into the Eildons or Eildon Hills, because of its triple peak. The 1,385 feet high eminence overlooks Teviotdale to the South. The north hilltop, of three peaks, is surrounded by over three miles of ramparts, enclosing an area of about 40 acres in which at least 300 level platforms have been cut into the rock to provide bases for turf or timber walled houses, forming one of the largest hill forts known in Scotland. A Roman army signalling station was later constructed on the same site as this hill fort. The mid hilltop is the highest, whilst the south hilltop is the lowest. The hills are owned by the Duke of Buccleuch, Scotland's largest private landowner. As with all land in Scotland the public have a right of responsible access to the hills, and there are many paths crossing the area and leading to all three summits. In the 1st century AD the Roman army built the massive fort of Trimontium at Newstead, named after the three peaks, at the foot of the hill on the bank of the River Tweed. In association with this fort they constructed a signal tower with a tiled roof in a 15 m diameter enclosure built on the summit of Eildon North Hill. Eildon is said in folklore to be a hollow hill, and is mentioned in the legend of Thomas the Rhymer. Some believe Thomas went under the hill itself, and certainly part of the ballad occurs in the vicinity. Sir Walter Scott tells the tale of a horse dealer who is paid in ancient coin by an elderly buyer in old-fashioned dress and taken inside the hill at night. A host of armed knights lie asleep at their horses feet; their sleeping leader is King Arthur. Shown a horn and a sword, in confusion the dealer blows the horn: the men begin to awake and a loud voice indicates that he has been proved a coward for not seizing the sword first. A whirlwind ejects him from the chamber and outside he tells his story to some shepherds before dropping dead of exhaustion. Scott identifies the elderly man as Thomas the Rhymer. Another legend concerns the Eildon Tree Stone, a large moss-covered boulder near Melrose, marking the spot where the Fairy Queen led Thomas into her realms in the heart of the hills. The volcanic rock was said to have been cleft in three by the wizard Michael Scot, as relayed by Walter Scott in his 1805 poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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