Traprain Law.

Traprain Law (originally "Dunpendyrlaw", law is a Scots word for hill) dominates a significant area of East Lothian and features in local history and legend. A hill fort was built on the top, large enough to be considered a major town in the iron age, and at 220 metres above sea level, would have been virtually impregnable. From 1500BC onwards, it was a burial site and was fortified about 500 years later and occupied for a further 1500 years. During that time, the town was the seat of local government which, at the end of that period, moved to Edinburgh. "Local," in this context, means The Lothians and Borders.

Some years ago, probably in about 1990, a replica funeral pyre was built and lit to research the internal temperatures achieved (they turned out to be incredible) to help with assessing the archaeological finds from the site. I remember a talk about it at the Roslin Heritage Society but I'm a little hazy on the details. In 1919, 25 kilos of bullion, in the form of sliced up Roman silver, was recovered from a cache which ended up in the Royal Scottish Museum. The fact that the artifacts had been destroyed implies that they were only valued for their metal content.

According to legend, this was the home of Thenaw, daughter of King Loth and mother of the illegitimate St Mungo (aka Kentigern); an account of the legend is detailed in in Nigel Tranter's book, "Druid Sacrifice." It is the only Tranter book that I've enjoyed, that may be because I know all the regions covered by the narrative: from Traprain to Culross in Fife, then west to Glasgow, where Mungo is the patron saint, and down through the Lake District to Wales. It’s all good cycling country.