Melrose, with the adjacent Eildon Hills, is an ancient settlement in the Scottish Borders; previously a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria. The town grew around the abbey (rems of above; ruined by the Scottish Reformation - Robert the Bruce's heart was buried here). But its earliest town constituted about 600 huts of the Iron Age/ Celtic/ Cymric people on top of North Eildon - one of the three famous peaks that dominate this area:
The Eildon Hills are famous from association with wizards, of different types. Michael Scott was a medieval professor, mathematician and magician - who ordered what was originally a single peak to be cleft into three by some demons.
Not long afterwards the prophet and poet Thomas the Rhymer was lying on the banks of this hill, and met the Queen of Elfland - he became her lover, and spent seven years in Faery before revising mortal lands (nearby Ercildoune) with the gift of prophecy. He later returned to Elfland, led by a white hart and hind...
This is told by another 'wizard' who resided here - Sir Walter Scott - in his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.
Coming-down off North Eildon, can be seen the conical peak of Middle Eildon (the highest) with West Eildon to the left.
The other wizard was that most famous of all - Merlin. This is one of the places where Merlin guards King Arthur and his knight under the earth - in an enchanted sleep with horses all ready to rescue the nation at need. Such was attested by a visiting Carlisle farmer who supplied one of the horses, and was led into the side of one of the hills by a wizardish-looking old man: I think the cleft in North Eildon - pictured below - was probably the place of the magically hidden doorway.
Breathtaking landscapes. These photos, and your accompanying commentary, make me wish I had spent a few extra months in Northumberland when I lived there.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it's a magical part of the world.
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