Duddingston Loch sits in the heart of Edinburgh, on the South-east side of Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park, just West of the old village of Duddingston, which is now a central suburb of the city. Click here for a location map provided by StreetMap.
In 1778, a hoard of bronze items was dredged from the bottom of the loch, consisting mainly of broken weapons, including thirty-two sword fragments and fourteen spearheads.
The Duddingston Loch Hoard, Callander (1922)
However, a ring handle from a bronze cauldron was also found (item no.1, above), along with human skulls and bones, and deer antlers. Such a combination of objects may signify a pagan votive offering to a water deity such as has been observed in other significant Celtic finds throughout Europe. One alternative theory was put forward by Graham Callander in 1922 was that it represented the remains of a blacksmith's waste.[1] Nonetheless, a ritual explanation seems both plausible and appealing.
The history of this hoard following its discovery is also interesting, with some items being given to King George III, some passing into the hands of Walter Scott, and the above selection making its way into the possession of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland as their first acquisition in 1781. Needless to say, the items given to the royal family and Walter Scott have now apparently disappeared, while those given to the Society are now in the care of the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Other finds from the loch include a Roman coin of Tacitus, found around 1780.
A further alternative theory regarding the bronze hoard is that it may represent debris from a collapsed crannog in the loch, and a wooden structure was apparently visible under the water on the Southern side of the loch in the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, this structure is no longer visible.
Another conjectured but unfound settlement in the vicinity of the loch may be a medieval village called Treverlen. This placename clearly has a Brythonic root, and if the village was located near Edinburgh, would suggest habitation prior to the seventh century, given that Celtic Edinburgh (Din Eidyn) is said to have fallen to the Northumbrian Anglo-Saxons around 638 AD. According to WJ Watson, alternative forms of this placename include Treuenlene in The Book of Kelso in the thirteenth century.[2] However, in 1996, Historic Scotland sponsored a minor excavation which failed to find any medieval evidence in the area thought to have been the site of Treverlen, but did turn up some more modern finds.[3]
Unfortunately, the only remaining evidence of settlement in the immediate vicinity of the loch is the existence of some twenty ploughed terraces along the Eastern side of Arthur's Seat, on the North side of the loch. Precise dating of these terraces is difficult, but they are at least extant.
more to follow...
footnotes
[1] Graham Callander, "Three Bronze Age Hoards Recently Added to the National Collection", in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquities of Scotland, 1921-1922, p.363.
[2] WJ Watson, The History of the Celtic Placenames of Scotland (Edinburgh: 1926), pp.360-361.
[3] CANMORE entry on Treverlen, http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/details?inumlink=108254