Edin's Hall Broch – A Whiteadder Walk to an Iron Age Tower
About 5.6 miles on foot.
Abbey St Bathans is a tiny village hidden in a wooded fold of the Lammermuirs, and the walk from it up the Whiteadder valley leads to one of the surprises of the Borders.
Edin's Hall is the ring of an Iron Age broch, a kind of stone tower you'd expect to find in the far north, standing on a hillside above the river. It's a nine-kilometre round, and there's a café right by the car park.
- Time
- Three to four hours: a round of 9 km, or five and a half miles, from Abbey St Bathans, on the council's figures.
- The path
- Tracks, field edges, woodland paths and minor roads, with a climb to the broch and some wet ground.
- Where to start
- The Riverside car park, Abbey St Bathans, beside the Whiteadder Water.
- When to go
- All year in daylight. The Woodlands Café usually opens on Saturday and Sunday only. From November to January set off by 10.30am.
- Dogs
- On a lead in the bird breeding season and near sheep.
- Children
- A good walk for children who can manage five and a half miles. The broch is a fine thing to reach.
- Before you set out
- Some wet ground. Sheep graze the hill.
The walk
Park at the Riverside car park in Abbey St Bathans, beside the Whiteadder Water. The village is tiny, so bring what you need. Scottish Borders Council gives the round to Edin's Hall Broch as five and a half miles, or 9 km, and allows three to four hours. It's on tracks, field edges, woodland paths and quiet roads, with a climb up the hillside to the broch, and some of it is wet underfoot. The valley is lovely, a steep-sided gorge holding some of the oldest woodland left in the Borders.
People have lived here a very long time. Christian settlers came in the sixth century and Cistercian nuns in the twelfth. Edin's Hall is far older than either. A settlement on this hillside was ringed with earthworks around 500 BC, and a few centuries later a large stone broch was built in its place, with stone-walled houses in banked enclosures beside it. Brochs are the round stone towers of the Iron Age, and they are far commoner in the north of Scotland than here.
The wall of this one still stands in a wide ring on the hillside. Above the broch is Cockburn Law, where an Iron Age fort crowns the top. Sheep graze the hill, and the council asks for dogs on a lead in the bird breeding season. From November to January, set off by 10.30am.
If it rains
The river paths are muddy after rain and the hillside at the broch is open to the weather. On a wet day the woods by the river give some cover, but this is a walk that is far better in the dry.
Afterwards
The Woodlands Café
Lunch
The Woodlands Café is right by the car park in Abbey St Bathans, so it's the first thing you come to at the end of the walk. It's a bright, simple room with a blackboard menu of brunch until noon, toasted sourdough sandwiches and melts for lunch, and a table of home baking. It usually opens on Saturday and Sunday only, 10am to 4pm, and it posts its hours on its Facebook page, so check there before you count on it. On a weekday, bring a picnic. Over Christmas and New Year, check before going.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is Blue Cabin by the Sea in Cockburnspath, 6 miles away. Sleeps 4.
Where to eat
The Woodlands Café, a café in Abbey Saint Bathans.
For further reading, before you go.
Photographs by Paul Clarke and Kim Kjaerside via Google