Traprain Law

Nearest town:
East Linton (4km NNE)
OS reference:
NT581746
OS sheet:
67
Latitude:
55° 57' 44.97 N
Longitude:
2° 40' 16.47 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Traprain Law (Hillfort) by GLADMAN

At the North-eastern end of the hillfort......

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 18, 2010
Image of Traprain Law (Hillfort) by GLADMAN

Towards Berwick Law (left skyline) and Bass Rock (centre skyline)

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 18, 2010
Image of Traprain Law (Hillfort) by rockartuk

From “The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland” by Ronald W.B. Morris (BAR British Series 86, 1981, ISBN 0 86 054 116 9) plate 147. Photo by Evan Hadingham. The stone is in the NMS, Edingburgh.

Image credit: Evan Hadingham
rockartuk
rockartuk Jun 3, 2005
Image of Traprain Law (Hillfort) by Martin

21/9/01-looking down onto Standingstone farm- Loths stone is in one of those fields too

Martin
Martin Oct 29, 2001
Image of Traprain Law (Hillfort) by Martin

21/9/01-the view from the top across to Berwick Law and the Bass Rock (you can just about make em out through the mist!)

Martin
Martin Oct 29, 2001

Articles

Traprain Law

Traprain Law Silver 100th Anniversary of its discovery

Howburn Digger
Howburn Digger Dec 11, 2019

Had the fantastic pleasure of a brilliant lecture from Dr Fraser Hunter with stunning slides (in amazing resolution) at Lanark on Monday 9th December.

blog.nms.ac.uk/2019/05/12/a-century-of-silver-the-traprain-treasure-on-its-hundredth-birthday/

There is a new, rather pricey book coming out. The images are simply stunning and the finds shed new light on the context of Traprain from Bronze Age through to the Iron Age. Maybe one for the Santa wishlist.

bookdepository.com/Late-Roman-Silver-Treasure-from-Traprain-Law-Fraser-Hunter/9781910682234

Another very recent find (from some lovely Detectorists) over in Fife.

blog.nms.ac.uk/2017/08/01/rebuilding-roman-silver-a-fantastic-find-from-fife/

Traprain Law

Historic Site Reveals its Secrets

Kammer
Kammer Nov 12, 2004

From an article published on the BBC News web site on 12th November 2004:

Archaeologists are set to learn about new discoveries at one of Scotland’s most important ancient sites.

Investigators began work at Traprain Law in East Lothian after a major fire in 2003 which damaged some historical remains and endangered others.

The experts called in to carry out a full assessment made a number of finds, including 5,000-year-old Neolithic rock art and Bronze Age axes.

The details will be revealed at a conference in Edinburgh on Saturday.

Read the full article...

Traprain Law

New Discoveries at Traprain Law

Rhiannon
Rhiannon Jul 28, 2004

Edited from “Iron Age ‘nerve centre’ uncovered on hill” by Angie Brown, The Scotsman
thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=863592004

New findings at Traprain Law, near Haddington, include the first coal jewellery workshop unearthed in Scotland as well as hundreds of artefacts giving new insight into life in the 700BC-AD43 era. Experts who have been working on the site for several weeks are now able to paint a picture of a densely populated hilltop town which was home to leaders of local tribes, following the discovery of multiple ramparts, Roman pottery, gaming pieces, tools and beads.

Fraser Hunter, the curator of Iron Age and Roman at the National Museums of Scotland (NMS), said pottery found at the site proved that in AD80-400 Traprain Law’s inhabitants had regular contacts with Roman visitors, highlighting the importance of the area.

“The finds confirm the importance of Traprain in the Iron Age. This was a major craft centre, with jewellery being cast in bronze and carved out of oil shale. The whole site is more complex and densely fortified than we originally thought. Our finds show it was the power centre of East Lothian from the multiple ramparts we have found and the fragments of Roman objects which tell us this site was important as it had affiliations with the Romans.

“Our excavations confirm that the site thrived during the Roman period, with the inhabitants having access to a wide range of Roman goods which are otherwise very rare in Scotland. We are also very excited to find a workshop where cannel coal was carved into jewellery. We knew this vegetable-based coal was used to make bangles and beads but nobody had ever found a workshop where it was made.

“It brings the Iron Age to life to know where they stood making these objects and gives us a vivid insight, which we have not had until now.”

Experts at the latest excavation, the largest since 1923, have also produced the first detailed plan of the hill using new global positioning satellite equipment to chart the 50 hectare area.

Traprain Law

Dig set to begin at historic site

Jane
Jane Jul 22, 2004

From BBCi, 22 July 2004
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3915397.stm

Excavations are set to begin at what experts have described as one of the most important archaeological sites in Scotland.
They are trying to discover exactly how much damage was done by a major fire at the site last year.

The dig is taking place on Traprain Law, a hill near East Linton in East Lothian.

The area is noted as having been a major population centre in the late Bronze Age, 3,000 years ago.

In 2003, a fire started by a discarded cigarette end burned through grass and vegetation, damaging some historical remains and exposing others to potential erosion.

It left an unstable mixture of soil, mud and ash.

Investigators are now examining the worst affected areas hoping to carry out rescue and rehabilitation work.

Among the early finds in the current operation have been parts of a mediaeval building, as well as ancient tools, pottery and beads.

In the period AD 80 to 400 Traprain Law’s inhabitants had regular contacts with Roman visitors.

A huge hoard of Roman silver items was found on the hill in 1919.

Traprain Law

Race to save ancient fort site hit by massive fire

stubob
stubob Sep 22, 2003

AN emergency meeting has been called to save an Iron Age fort in East Lothian threatened by a massive blaze which has burned for a fortnight.

Council bosses and environment watchdogs are drawing up an action plan to salvage the fort and hidden archaeological treasures on Traprain Law which may have been destroyed by the huge grass fire.

Firefighters have been battling every day for two weeks to control the fire, thought to have been sparked by a discarded cigarette, which is continuing to burn underground. The hill has been closed until fire chiefs and council bosses are sure the blaze is completely out.

East Lothian Council officials and Scottish Natural Heritage are drawing up an action plan to determine the extent of the damage to archaeological treasures and botanical life. Due to the intense heat, archaeologists from East Lothian Council and Historic Scotland have been unable to get close enough to accurately gauge the damage.

Heritage officer Biddy Simpson said she was hoping to get a team together to carry out a survey as soon as the site is safe.

She is concerned that the site has been badly damaged and the fire could have exposed new archaeological finds to the elements.

“It is really difficult to say how much damage will have been caused, but the fire will almost certainly have exposed new finds which will start to deteriorate rapidly if the ash covering them is blown away.”

Patches of fire continue to flare up and it is thought only heavy rainfall will extinguish the fire completely.

Five fire crews and 28 firefighters from Haddington and East Linton stations were called out to Traprain Law when the fire broke out two weeks ago.

From Edinburgh Evening News
edinburghnews.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=1053682003

Traprain Law

Hill fort fire

Rhiannon
Rhiannon Sep 12, 2003

According to the East Lothian Courier, the grassland on top of Traprain Law was ablaze last weekend. The fire was believed to have been started by a dropped cigarette end. Archaeologists are apparently currently excavating the site, and were this week trying to decide how much damage had been caused to the hill fort. One hopes that the fire and the presence of archaeologists who smoke are unconnected.

More at
news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1014022003

Traprain Law

GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jun 23, 2010

This is one of those sites where the reputation of the place precedes it... the traveller feeling compelled to visit. This volcanic extrusion (hark at me!) certainly offers a spectacular profile, rising seemingly virtually from sea level upon the coastal plain, albeit a profile somewhat defaced by quarrying at the north-eastern end... why, oh why, oh why? Clearly this was an obvious site to establish a hillfort, both from a military perspective and, judging from Neolithic artefacts recovered here, possessing the necessary ‘otherworldly’ attributes, too. ‘Sacred Hill’, indeed.

The summit is most easilly gained via a path from the ‘official’ car parks below the northern flank, a short, reasonably steep climb. Outcrops of volcanic rock afford natural defence to the southern flank, so the surviving lines of drystone rampart protect the former, circling around the hillside to the west. Although not particularly impressive nowadays, relatively speaking, clearly this was once a powerful fortress, bearing in mind the topography. The summit of the mountain itself features the standard OS trig point and, of far greater importance, what I take to be the remnants of the kerb of a former Bronze Age cairn? Or is that being a little too fanciful?

As you might expect from such an isolated, coastal hill, Traprain Law is a stunning viewpoint. It really is. To the north, the stupendous curtain wall of Tantallon Castle is just visible before the – frankly bizarre – Bass Rock, with the equally noteworthy hillfort of Berwick Law to its left. Edinburgh crowns the approx western horizon, while the southern aspect is that of agriculture, the very basis of Iron Age wealth.

As I sit, an elderly, local man comes over for a chat. He is attired in ‘formal’ shoes and a cardie and comments upon how cold the wind is for May. ‘You don’t say?’ thinks I, clad in fleece and Gortex. ‘Yeah, I lost my wife to pneumonia this February’, he adds... ‘always wanted to come up here’... and the poignancy of this moment floors me like the proverbial sledgehammer blow to the head. Thankfully the old gent sets off back down before a vicious hail front sweeps in to give me a fearsome battering that is anything but ‘proverbial’. It is primeval, invigorating, somewhat un-nerving and more eloquent than I can ever be in describing this hilltop. It IS Traprain Law.

Traprain Law

Martin
Martin Sep 25, 2001

Traprain Law, East Lothian
Friday 21/9/01 4:35pm
This is East Lothians ‘Dunadd’- this hill dominates the East Lothian skyline as it rises out of the fertile farming plains all around. I can even see this mound from window in my work place in Edinburgh and it’s visible from many other points across the Capital and Mid Lothian. This must have been a great Mother of a central point for the megalith builders living around here- certainly- along its west base is a line of standing stones from Standingstone Farm, through Loths Stone, ending at another monolith just outside East Linton. The only other dominating feature of the land around here is the perfect cone of Berwick Law- another focal point for ancient civilisations. The climb up here is probably the most precarious I’ve done to any ancient site- my very limited climbing/scrambling skills certainly came in useful. I came up by the NE side of this ancient mound (not the easiest route I later found out!) which has been quarried in complete blinding disregard for this place. The presence of the quarry makes the climb up kinda scary and not for those like me trying to ignore the far-too-high drop to the right. This is the first time I’ve come up here though it’s been on my skyline all my life whenever I look towards the east. Driving here along the amazing country roads I rounded a small hill and it all of a sudden loomed over me filling the windscreen- ‘Fuck’ was my exact words! This place has been occupied/used from Neolithic, through Bronze (when it was used for burials), Iron ages up through Roman to about 5th century AD- jeez- that’s about 5000 years! It’s very size and position acts as a natural defence but there’s also man-made fortifications all around extending for over 100 m and up to 3.5 m thick. In more recent times this area has become the focus of paranormal/UFO research as the skies above my head have been filled with glowing orbs. Today it’s misty and I can’t even see as far as Edinburgh. There’s only one way back down from here and methinks it’s a sliding-down-on-yer-arse job!

Directions
Take the A1 east from Edinburgh and head through Haddington on to East Linton. From here take the road south heading towards the might of Traprain Law itself. Pass Traprain and Sunnyside farms and take the next right following the signs. There’s a couple of car parks- the second one from this direction has some Historic Scotland boards telling of history, folklore, natural history etc.

Folklore

Traprain Law
Hillfort
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Jan 4, 2024

The Iron Age hill-fort at the summit of this prominent dome-shaped hill is said to have been the ancient capital of Lothian. From it in 1919 was unearthed the Traprain Treasure, about 160 pieces of mainly of mainly fifth-century Roman silver, probably the buried loot of a robber, now in the Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.

The Lore Of Scotland – A Guide To Sottish Legend

Westwood & Kingshill

Folklore

Traprain Law
Hillfort
Martin
Martin Sep 29, 2001

Somewhere in the vicinity lived the Pictish king called Loth (around 518). He had a daughter called Thenew who fell in love with a local shepherd. This didn’t please Loth and he condemned his daughter to death by having her thrown form the top of Traprain Law. She survived though and still unconscious was carried to a coracle and set afloat on the Firth of Forth. The tide carried her to Culross, where the still unconscious princess was taken ashore by shepherds. Sometime after, she bore a son called Kentigern, who trained as a holy man and was later called Mungo. When he grew up he travelled west and set up a monastery in a small village called Cathures- this grew into the great city of Glasgow- of which Mungo is the patron saint.
The shepherd who fell in love with Thenew took revenge on Loth and killed him with an arrow through his heart and legend has it he was buried at the foot of Traprain Law.
In 1861 Professor James Young Simpson (he of anaesthetic fame) examined the stones around the Law in the hope of discovering Loths grave. Forty foot east of the original site of Loths Stone a stone cist was discovered.

Topics

traprain law 14
tiompan
tiompan
Jun 2005
Souterrain? 2
A
adelphi
Feb 2005
New digs 5
FourWinds
FourWinds
Jul 2004
Fire update? 4
pebblesfromheaven
pebblesfromheaven
Dec 2003

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