24 REPORT OP MEETINGS FOR 1906 



at 5 feet from the ground, being: — (1) 92 feet high and 15 

 feet 7 inches in girth; (2) 94 feet 9 inches, and 13 feet 10 

 inches; and (3) 100 feet, and 11 feet 9 inches. On the rising 

 ground to the North could be seen the lands of Blackerston 

 and Quixwood, and away to the West the high lands of Abbey 

 St. Bathans, Godscroft, and Whiteburn. With such a prospect 

 it is not strange that the early settlers, ever exposed to surprise 

 and siege, should have selected such a site for the construction 

 of a place of shelter and defence, within sight and signalling 

 distance of the camps behind Staneshiel on the East, and the 

 approaches by the hills above the Moneynut to the North. 

 In the course of a former visit, on 30th June 1870, which 

 was conducted from Duns, the Club, under the direction of 

 Mr John Turnbull of Abbey St. Bathans, made a detailed 

 examination of explorations that had been carried out by a 

 Committee of their number, and thereafter "urged them to 

 complete their investigations by clearing out the circles within 

 the rampiers of the camp, and by examining any other of 

 the antiquities on Cockburn Law, which would be likely to 

 throw light on the history of Edin's Hall." What may be 

 accepted as the outcome of this instruction is narrated in a 

 paper contributed to the Proceedings in 1879, and containing 

 a minute description and measurement by the same gentleman, 

 who had been aided in his work of research by members of 

 the Society of Antiquaries, through whose practical assistance 

 a small fund had been provided for completing the work of 

 exploration. From these valuable contributions the following 

 facts have been gathered to explain the character and design 

 of this pre-historic ruin."^' 



It is not easy to determine the true significance of the 

 name, the conjecture, advanced by Mr David Turnbull, that 

 it was a palace of Edwin, King of Northumbria, having received 

 but little corroboration from later investigators ; but from the 



nature of its structure, which is circular and of 

 Details dry-stone masonry, there is a presumption in 



of Broch. favour of the suggestion that it belongs to that 



class of fortified towers so frequently met with 

 in the Northern part of the kingdom, to which has been 



* B.N.C, Vol. IX., Part i., pp. 81-99, 



