Publication Account
Date 1985
Event ID 1016259
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016259
The nearby hills were quite well settled in the iron age by British tribes, and subsequently by Northumbrians for whom the Catrail (NT 4804- 4904: a considerable linear earthwork just visible from Burgh Hill towards The Pike, south-east across Dod Burn) may have been a temporary 'frontier' before the mid 12th century.
Burgh Hill, at 306m, in addition to its roughly rectangular fortified hill-settlement, hosts a setting of 25 stones, 13 of which are still erect. It is some 2.5km north-west of the Tinlee Stone (NT 484038), a standing stone set on rising ground above Dod Bum.
The setting is low on the ground; it is egg-shaped, some 16.5m by 13.4m and, like Borrowstoun Rig (no. 101) is believed to have been constructed according to clearly defined geometrical mles involving a megalithic yard calculated at 0.829m. But whilst Borrowstoun is termed a Type II setting (based simply on two overlapping circles), Burgh Hill, like Caimpapple's much larger ring of standing stones, is termed Type 1. It is based on an initial notional circle and on further circles linked to pythagorean triangles placed back-to-back at the centre point of the diameter of the original circle! In this particular setting, the first circle has been calculated as 16 megalithic yards in diameter; the longer sides are arcs of 27 my diameter circles, the tip is part of a 10 my diameter circle based on the apex of the triangles.
Regardless of such megalithic mathematics, the factors that determined the overall size of a setting (geographicallimitations apart) are still unknown; as also the reasons why they were built at all, whether ritual, ceremonial or astronomical.
Information from 'Exploring Scotland's Heritage: Lothian and Borders', (1985).
