Eildon Hill

It is possible that the hills were formed deep beneath the Earth's surface as ancient laccoliths. Excavations have revealed evidence that the hill fort was occupied by 1000 BC, in the Bronze Age. The ramparts seem to have been built and rebuilt in three phases. 296 individual hut floors have been identified within the fort, suggesting a population of around 2000, and making it one of the largest known in Scotland from this period. In the 1st century AD the Roman army built the massive fort of Trimontium at Newstead, named after the three peaks, at the foot of the hill on the bank of the River Tweed. In association with this fort they constructed a signal tower with a tiled roof in a 15 m diameter enclosure built on the summit of Eildon North Hill. The hill fort may have been abandoned by this time, as Roman archaeological finds uncovered during excavation of the site in 1986 all overlaid native finds. They were once known as Eldune, derived from the 12th-century Simeon of Durham who referred to them as . The final part of the word is Old English dun, meaning a rounded hill, while the first part has been variously etymologized as Brittonic eil (referring to a fenced enclosure) or Old English ǣled ("fire") or ǣlǣte ("empty place"). ==In folklore and media==