Stone Age Borders

We start our tour by taking a gentle stroll to Torwoodlee Broch near Galashiels.

A broch is a iron age stone circle building mostly found in the north of Scotland and is not native to the lowland regions of Scotland.
There is a handful known brochs within the Borders and a bit of a mystery why they exist here.

The broch at Torwoodlee throws up more mystery as a long ditch structure seams to end at the broch. The ditch structure is around 11.5 miles long (as the crow flies) but is longer in terms of how it meanders through the country side.

Much speculation has went into why this ditch came to be, the most likely explanation is a land barrier between 2 tribes of different ancient religions.

Check out these 2 videos of Marks to find out more:

The 3 Brochs of Galashiels

Galashiels Mysteries…The Catrail

After our drive well will arrive near the east coast where we will take a 2.5 mile hike.

This attraction involves us visiting another broch (Edins Hall) that is more preserved and well worth the hike taking in fantastic scenery and views.

A previous hill fort once occupied the site and the notably earthworks are still visible on the ground.
The broch now stands at 2m in height, having probably had their stones robbed for field boundaries as late as the 18th Century and there is rumours it stood tall until this time.

This broch is vastly larger than highland know brochs are there is also stone foundations from other buildings that show this was certainly a community.

This is a great example of a broch showcasing the thickness of the walls and the build quality of the building by means of no mortar.
Certainly if the broch had not been robbed of the stone I believe it would of still stood high to this day.

Again there is much mystery surrounding why the native highland building was built in the lowlands and who inhabited it.
But here you will be able to absorb the atmosphere and draw your own conclusions to what once on this land.

Take a look at Marks video to find out more (link)