Lothian - ancient sites

Cairnpapple Hill is an important ritual centre atop a high hill, used for over 4,000 years from the Neolithic period to the early Christian era. Visitors can enter a reconstructed Bronze age cairn and see burial cists spanning thousands of years.
Torphichen, Lothian, Scotland

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Set in the beautiful surroundings of the Pentland Hills, Castlelaw Hill Fort is an elaborate Iron Age fortification consisting of three earthwork ditches and banks protecting a roughly circular inner area.
Castlelaw, Lothian, Scotland

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Heritage Scotland, who look after Chesters Hill Fort, call it an Iron Age fort. That may be slightly misleading, for the site is quite different from the usual sort of hill fort. For a start, the hilltop earthworks are overlooked by a nearby hill, making it a very poor location for a defensive fort. It would have been very easy for anyone occupying the higher hill to launch volleys of slingshot stone down upon the inhabitants of Chesters.
Drem, Lothian, Scotland

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Doon Hill is a fascinating site, the location of two timber halls, the first the home of a 6th-century British chief, and the second a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon hall. There were two main phases of occupation, but the hilltop was in use before the first occupation. A small burial ground that predates the first human occupation was found during excavation.
Dunbar, Lothian, Scotland

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