Dirrington Great Law facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Dirrington Great Law |
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Dirrington Great Law
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 398 metres (1,306 ft) |
| Prominence | 157 metres (515 ft) |
| Listing | Marilyn |
| Geography | |
| Location | Scottish Borders |
| OS grid | NT698549 |
Dirrington Great Law is a cool hill located in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It's found in what used to be called Berwickshire. This hill stands out because it's quite isolated, sitting south of the bigger Lammermuir Hills. A smaller hill, Dirrington Little Law, is also nearby.
Exploring Dirrington Great Law
Dirrington Great Law is about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) south of a place called Longformacus. It's also about 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) west of Duns. The top of the hill reaches about 398 meters (1,306 feet) high. Dirrington Little Law is a bit smaller at 360 meters (1,181 feet) and is about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) to the southwest.
How Dirrington Great Law Was Formed
This hill has a really interesting past! Geologists, who study rocks and how the Earth was made, believe Dirrington Great Law was formed by ancient volcanoes. It's made of a special volcanic rock called felsite. This felsite might be what's left of a laccolith.
A laccolith is like a big bubble of hot, melted rock (magma) that pushed its way up into the Earth's crust. It didn't break through to the surface like a regular volcano. Instead, it pushed up the layers of rock above it, forming a dome shape. Over millions of years, the softer rocks around it wore away, leaving the harder volcanic rock of Dirrington Great Law standing tall.
Mysterious Stone Piles at the Top
When you reach the very top of Dirrington Great Law, you'll find three large circular piles of stones. These are called cairns. They are quite big, measuring about 23.5 meters (77 feet), 21 meters (69 feet), and 8.5 meters (28 feet) across.
These cairns are special because the stones used to build them were dug out from the hilltop itself. They weren't just gathered from loose stones lying around. This suggests they were carefully built a very long time ago, perhaps for burials or as important markers.
