Broch
- For other types of towers see round tower
The Broch is an Iron Age dry stone structure of a type which is found in Scotland. They are an example of what are more generally classified as Atlantic Roundhouses.
The origin of brochs remains disputed. Sixty years ago most archaeologists believed that brochs were built by an influx of broch builders who had been displaced and pushed northward during the Roman invasion of southern England. However, this theory has fallen from favour, since the few radiocarbon dates available point to a much earlier date for the brochs' floruit. The best-preserved broch, at Mousa, may date from 100BC to 100AD, but other examples are older. The earliest radiocarbon dates obtained have been from remains in Shetland and Caithness.
Current thought is that brochs were built by local people in the north of Scotland, possibly making use of itinerant craftsmen since so many were built to similar designs. The distribution of brochs is centred on northern Scotland. Caithness and the Northern Isles have the densest concentrations, and there are a great many examples in the Hebrides and Sutherland. Although mainly concentrated in the northern Highlands and the Islands, some examples occur in the borders (for example Edin's Hall Broch), on the west coast of Dumfries and Galloway and near Stirling. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland identify a total of 571 candidate broch sites.
In the nineteenth century antiquarians thought that brochs were defensive structures, places of refuge for the community and their livestock. Later, archaeologists like V. Gordon Childe regarded them as castles where local landowners lorded it over a subject population. These theories fell from favour among some archaeologists in the 1980s, due to an apparent lack of supporting archaeological evidence. These archaeologists have suggested that defensibility was never a major concern in the siting of a broch, and have argued that they may have been the "stately homes" of their time, objects of prestige and very visible demonstrations of superiority for important families. Their close groupings and sheer numbers in many areas would tend to argue against either a primarily defensive or presitgious function, and many archeologists are now considering broch sites individually, doubting that there ever was a single common purpose for which every broch was constructed.
Brochs vary from 5 to 15 metres in internal diameter, with 3 metre thick walls. On average, the walls only survive to a few metres; the best examples (Carloway, Telve, Troddan, Mousa and Dornaigil) are up to 13m tall, however it is not clear whether all brochs originally stood this high. A frequent characteristic is that the walls are galleried (the outer and inner wall skins are separate but tied together with linking stone slabs, with an open space between). These linking slabs may in some cases have served as steps to higher floors. Beside the door, it is normal for there to be a cell breaking off from the passage; this is known as the guard cell. It has been found in some Shetland brochs that guard cells in entrance passageways are close to large door-check stones. Though there was much argument in the past, it is now generally accepted that brochs were roofed, probably with a conical timber framed roof covered with a locally sourced thatch. The evidence for this assertion is still fairly scanty, though excavations at Dun Bharabhat, Lewis, have supported this interpretation. The main difficulty with this interpretation continues to be the potential source of structural timber, though bog and driftwood may have been plentiful sources.
On the islands of Orkney and Shetland there are very few cells at ground floor level. However, brochs in this region have scarcements (ledges) which would have allowed the construction of a very sturdy wooden first floor. This is also the case in many of the brochs that are located on the Scottish mainland.
Brochs were sometimes (e.g. Scatness in Shetland) located close to arable land and a source of water (some have deep wells or natural springs rising within their central space). Sometimes, on the other hand, they were sited in wilderness areas (e.g. Levenwick and Culswick in Shetland, Castle Cole in Sutherland). Brochs are often built beside the sea; sometimes they are on islands in lakes (e.g. Clickimin in Shetland).
Most brochs are un-excavated, but most of those that have been properly examined do show that they continued in use for many centuries - although the interiors were often modified and changed, and they underwent many phases of habitation and abandonment. The end of the broch period par excellence seems to have come around AD 300.
Some good examples of brochs on Shetland are Mousa Broch (the walls here are well preserved, standing some 13m high), at Clickimin in Lerwick, at Levenwick and in Culswick. Elsewhere, in Glenelg (a galleried dun can also be seen here) and at Dun Carloway on Lewis. The best brochs in Orkney are at Gurness and Midhowe.
The Shetland Amenity Trust list about 120 sites in Shetland as candidate brochs.
The skills involved in broch building are currently being explored by drystone dyker Irwin Campbell, and AOC Archaeology Ltd, based in Edinburgh.
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See also
References
- Harding, DW 2004 The Iron Age in Northern Scotland. Routledge.
- Armit, I 2003 Towers of the North, the Brochs of Scotland. Stroud.
- Armit, I 1991 'The Atlantic Scottish Iron Age: Five Levels Of Chronology', Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. 121
- Fojut, N 1982 ‘Towards a Geography of Shetland Brochs’, Glasgow Archaeological Journal 9, 38-59.
- Harding, D W 2000 The Hebridean Iron Age: Twenty Years’ Research. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Department of Archaeology, Occasional Paper Series, No. 20. [1]
- Ballin Smith, B and Banks, I (eds) 2002 In the Shadow of the Brochs, the Iron Age in Scotland. Stroud: Tempus.
- Hingley, R 1992 'Society in Scotland from 700BC to 200AD', Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. 122
External links
- "Towers of stone – the brochs of Scotland", from The Scotsman, February 27, 2006.
- "Information and Photographic Database of Iron Age Brochs in Shetland" Licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License
- Pretanic World - Chart of Neolithic, Bronze Age and Celtic Stone Structures
Categories
Towers | Iron Age | Shelters | Fortification | Scottish archaeology | Towers in the United Kingdom