118 The Broch of Torwoodlee. [Sess. 
houses, ultimately with underground galleries, stone lined and 
earth covered. These were succeeded by massive, circular 
stone towers of great strength, now known as brochs, and those 
were followed by the castle or peel towers, so numerously 
observed all over the Tweed district, and which were not only 
strong places of defence, but also served as signalling towers. 
For the purposes of this excursion, we confine ourselves to 
the brochs, for much of the information concerning which we 
are indebted to papers in the ‘ Proceedings of the Society of 
Antiquaries of Scotland,’ and especially those by Drs Anderson, 
Fergusson, and Christison, and Mr James Curle. The measure- 
ments of a large number of these brochs showed that the ex- 
ternal diameter of these massive round towers ranged from 
34 to 90 feet, the internal court from 25 to 50 feet, the 
thickness of the walls from 9 to 19 feet, and the prob- 
able height from 30 to 50 feet. Hundreds of these brochs, 
more or less in ruins, have been found in the north of Scot- 
land, including the Shetland and Orkney islands, but only three 
have as yet been found south of the Tweed—(1) at Edens 
Hall, Cockburnspath, in Berwickshire; (2) at Bowshank, on 
the Gala, about two miles north of this Torwoodlee site; and 
(3) on the ground we are now standing upon. The property 
is that of Torwoodlee, or Towerwoodlee, belonging to Captain 
Pringle, R.N., and tenanted by Mr Thomas Gibson, to the latter 
of whom we have been indebted for liberty to inspect, and — 
facilities and assistance in exhibiting, the details of the broch. 
Besides being the site of a broch, the spot is further inter- 
esting as being the northern end of the Catrail or Picts work 
ditch, which can be traced down the hill to the southwards, 
across the Tweed, on the south side of which the Catrail can 
still be clearly observable at numerous places by Peatlaw, and 
onwards as far as Peel Fell in Northumberland. At Torwood- | 
lee the Catrail and broch merge practically into each other, 
and the site is surrounded by a number of ditches or entrench- 
ments, known locally as the “ Rings of Torwoodlee.” It was 
not till 1891 that the Gala Ramblers’ Club visited Torwoodlee 
and made all the necessary arrangements for the excavation of — 
the remains of the broch. They were induced to do so be- 
cause three years previously they had discovered another broch — 
at Bowshank, only some two miles away. : 
