Drumelzier and the Merlin Connection
According to legend, Merlin was reputedly buried on the haugh on the east bank of the Tweed, north of Drumelzier Church. This legend appears to be at least as old as the Middle Ages, given its inclusion in the Vita Merlini Silvestris (Life of Merlin of the Forest) probably written in the twelfth century (though only a fifteenth century copy survives). The story was included by Walter Bower, the abbot of the abbey of Inchcolm, in his Scotichronicon which was written in the 1440s.
While the location is marked on maps from 1775 onwards, no actual remains have ever been recorded here. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries several historian record having seen the site in the supposed grave and recorded the coordinates of its location. William Chambers described it as “a kind of tumulus”. It has been speculated that the tradition of this site at Drumelzier may have originated from the discovery of a Bronze Age cist grave.
Which begs the question: are there archaeological roots to this tradition?
A magnetometer geophysics survey of an area around this spot in November 2022 may confirm if there is any archaeological evidence for a cist grave at this location. Geophysics is a non-intrusive survey technique that can identify potential archaeological features buried beneath the surface. The aim is to gather archaeological evidence for any archaeological features at or close to the site of “Merlin’s grave” and if this evidence provides an archaeological context to the roots of Drumelzier’s association with the Merlin legend.
