North Berwick Law, sometimes abbreviated to Berwick Law, is a
conical hill which rises conspicuously from the surrounding landscape (this is the definition of the
Lowland Scots word "law"). It overlooks the
East Lothian town of
North Berwick
North Berwick (; gd, Bearaig a Tuath) is a seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately east-northeast of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
, and stands at 613
ft (187 m) above sea level.
It is considerably steeper (1:1 gradient) on its north side.
Geology
Geologically, the law is a
volcanic plug
A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged ma ...
of hard
phonolitic
Phonolite is an uncommon extrusive rock, of intermediate chemical composition between felsic and mafic, with texture ranging from aphanitic (fine-grained) to porphyritic (mixed fine- and coarse-grained). Phonolite is a variation of the igneous ...
trachyte
Trachyte () is an extrusive igneous rock composed mostly of alkali feldspar. It is usually light-colored and aphanitic (fine-grained), with minor amounts of mafic minerals, and is formed by the rapid cooling of lava enriched with silica and al ...
rock of
Carboniferous (
Dinantian
Dinantian is the name of a series or epoch from the Lower Carboniferous system in Europe. It can stand for a series of rocks in Europe or the time span in which they were deposited.
The Dinantian is equal to the lower part of the Mississippian s ...
) age. It has survived the scraping
glaciers of the
ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
. It is a
crag and tail with a prominent tail extending eastwards.
History
The summit bears remnants of an
Iron Age hill fort, and the ruins of later military buildings that were once used by lookouts in both the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, and in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
Since 1709 the law has been topped with a whale's jawbone.
The bone was replaced three times until being removed, due to safety concerns, in 2005.
On 26 June 2008, a fibreglass replica whale bone, the same size as the one that was removed in 2005, was airlifted into place to give North Berwick Law back its landmark. The funding for the replica was donated by an anonymous friend of North Berwick.
Access to the summit
The summit of the hill can be reached by a foothpath starting from a car park located at the foot of the law. The round trip takes about one hour's walk. In order to reduce soil erosion it's warmly recommended to hikers not to leave the established path. The hill top, in clear weather, offers views of the
Firth of Forth and of the nearby
Bass Rock
The Bass Rock, or simply the Bass (), ( gd, Creag nam Bathais or gd, Am Bas) is an island in the outer part of the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland. Approximately offshore, and north-east of North Berwick, it is a steep-sided volca ...
island.
See also
*
Breast shaped hills
The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues.
In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and secre ...
*
List of inselbergs
*
List of mountains in Scotland
Scotland is the most mountainous country in the United Kingdom. Scotland's mountain ranges can be divided in a roughly north to south direction into: the Scottish Highlands, the Central Belt and the Southern Uplands, the latter two primarily belo ...
Gallery
File:North Berwick Law - April 2012.JPG, North Berwick Law, North Berwick, East Lothian
File:Berwick Law, North Berwick.JPG, Berwick Law, seen from the town
Image:Bb-berwicklaw.jpg, The whale's jawbone as it sat on top of North Berwick Law
File:Replica Whale's Jawbone on North Berwick Law.JPG, The replica of the original jawbone
File:Sign on top of North Berwick Law - Whale Jaw Bone Replica.JPG, An anonymous friend of the town donated the replica jawbone
File:Viewpoint indicator.jpg, Viewpoint indicator on North Berwick Law, with the Bass Rock
The Bass Rock, or simply the Bass (), ( gd, Creag nam Bathais or gd, Am Bas) is an island in the outer part of the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland. Approximately offshore, and north-east of North Berwick, it is a steep-sided volca ...
in the background
References
External links
* Computer-generated virtual panorama
North Berwick Law
{{Authority control
Marilyns of Scotland
Hills of the Scottish Midland Valley
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Mid and East Lothian
Mountains and hills of East Lothian
Volcanic plugs of Scotland
Tourist attractions in East Lothian
North Berwick