Traprain Law - Treasure

Right in the heart of East Lothian, rising steeply from the rolling farmland around it, is a fascinating lump of volcanic rock called Traprain Law. Like so many of these isolated, small hills, it held great significance for ancient people and has a colourful history. It’s believed that it was occupied as far back as the Bronze Age in 1500BC and it’s known that bronze tools were made here. According to an ancient transcript, King Loth ruled from Traprain Law in 528 and gave his name to the region we know today as Lothian. Around the time of the Roman invasion into Scotland in 80AD, a tribe called the Votadini centred their kingdom around Traprain Law and traded with the Romans until they eventually withdrew south. Nearly 2,000 years later in 1919, archaeologists discovered a hidden treasure of Roman silver on the Law. Weighing in at 24kg, it was the largest hoard ever found of late Roman “hack silver”, meaning that it had been cut up into small pieces. 

My friend Graham and I recently headed out by bike to explore Traprain Law. Our own treasure was a beautiful winter’s day for our trip. We started out by cycling along the Longniddry to Haddington railway path. This is one of my favourite places to cycle. It’s wrapped up in dense hedgerows as it cuts a line across the countryside so that the rest of the world seems far away. Birds flit around the bushes and in autumn it’s a blaze of red from the hawthorn berries. This morning the low winter sun struggled to clear the hedgerows so that the verges were frosted silver and the trees backlit with white gold.

As we cycled over the pretty arches of Nungate Bridge in Haddington, the scene before us was quite beautiful. The old church hugged a bend in the river above which hung a delicate veil of mist. Everything sparkled in a thick layer of frost. Traprain Law had been in our sights as we approached Haddington but as we cycled out the other side of town, it seemed now to mysteriously disappear. A strange trick of the landscape that had me check the map. Eventually it popped up again in front of us and a stiff pull had us at the bottom of the Law’s footpath. We chained up the bikes and started to climb the steep, northern slopes.

The Law is only 221m high so it wasn’t long before we were striding across the flat summit. What a place to be on that clear, crisp day. To the south the Lammermuirs quickly crowded the view while to the west, the Pentland Hills stretched to the horizon. Looking east the land quickly gave way to the blue waters of the North Sea and we could even see the squat shape of the Isle of May. But mostly the eye was drawn north across the Firth of Forth to Fife, dominated by the twin peaks of the Lomond Hills. How marvellous to think that 2,000 years ago King Loth would have stood here and looked across the water to the same view. The hills are so timeless and appear so permanent in our own short lives.

We picnicked behind a boulder, out of the chill wind, then walked down to our bikes to cycle back the way we had come. When we pulled in again to Haddington, the sun had mustered a hint of warmth that had chased away the frost and the mist. We sat outside with coffee and watched the river meander slowly under the bridge, carrying mallards and goosanders downstream as if on an underwater conveyer belt.

By the time we were cycling back along the old railway path, the sun was already low again, bringing back the morning chill and cross-hatching our trail with beams of gold.

Fact File

Start/finish: Longniddry train station

Public transport: Took the folding bikes on the North Berwick train, getting off at Longniddry.

My route: Exited right out of the station and immediately followed signs for NCN76 under the railway. The section to Haddington is traffic free though the surface is soft in places so best for trail/mountain bikes. Continued to follow the NCN signs through Haddington and out the other side. Just over 4km after the outskirts of Haddington, the road splits - the cycle route goes left, but stay right up the hill towards Traprain Law. We used the first access point at the top of the road where an obvious path climbs to the top of the hill. Back the same way.

Info: Waterside Bar beside Nungate Bridge is a nice place to sit by the river with a hot drink.