Brochs
Dun Hallin
Dun Hallin is an Iron Age broch located on the Waternish peninsula of Skye. Dun Hallin has an external diameter of around 17.4 metres and an internal diameter of around 10.5 metres. The broch walls currently stand to a maximum height of 3.8 metres on the north and west sides. The entrance is on the southeast side but is in a ruined state. On each side of the entrance passage are oval guard cells, although only the norther ...
Founded: 300-100 BC |
Location:
Isle of Skye, United Kingdom
Dun Telve
Dun Telve is one of the best preserved Iron Age brochs in Scotland. The neighbouring broch of Dun Troddan lies 470 metres to the east, and the 'semi-broch' known as Dun Grugaig is around 2.5 kilometres further east. Dun Telve is over 20m in diameter and the portion that still stands is about 10m high. Behind the narrow, west-facing entrance doorway, a 5m-long passage leads into the interior. Along the passage is a small ...
Founded: 100 BC - 100 AD |
Location:
Glenelg, United Kingdom
Loch na Berie
Loch Na Berie is the site of an Iron Age Broch and associated causeway. The site was excavated in the 1980s, which identified that the Broch had survived to first floor level. Loch na Berie is roughly 16.5 meters in diameter and the walls are roughly 3 meters thick. A modern causeway made of stones robbed from the broch was built to the west of the broch, though it is thought that an ancient causeway underlies the modern ...
Founded: 100 BC - 100 AD |
Location:
Outer Hebrides, United Kingdom
Broch of Ayre
Broch of Ayre, also known as St. Mary"s Broch, is an Iron Age structure in Orkney. It was first excavated in December 1901 and then again in the summer of 1909. Little now survives, though part of the broch wall is still extant. The excavations revealed traces of internal architecture and external, probably later, structures. The 1901 excavations revealed that the broch wall survived to over a metre in height in par ...
Founded: 500-200 BC |
Location:
Orkney, United Kingdom
Dun Beag
Dun Beag is an iron-age broch situated at the north end of a small rocky knoll. The broch consists of a drystone tower with a diameter of around 18.6 metres with walls about 4 metres thick at the base. The broch currently stands to a maximum height of 2 metres. The interior has a diameter of about 11 metres, and the entrance is on the east side. Internally three openings are visible in the broch wall. One leads to a smal ...
Founded: 200-300 BC |
Location:
Isle of Skye, United Kingdom
Jarlshof
Jarlshof is the best known prehistoric archaeological site in Shetland Islands. It lies near the southern tip of the Shetland Mainland and has been described as 'one of the most remarkable archaeological sites ever excavated in the British Isles'. It contains remains dating from 2500 BC up to the 17th century AD. The Bronze Age settlers left evidence of several small oval houses with thick stone walls and various artefact ...
Founded: 2500 BC |
Location:
Shetland, United Kingdom
Carn Liath
Càrn Liath is an Iron Age broch on the eastern shore of the Scottish Highlands. The broch has an external diameter of around 19 metres and an internal diameter of around 10 metres. The entrance passage is on the east side and is over 4 metres long. The entrance has elaborate door checks and a bar-hole to control access to the interior. On the right-hand side of the entrance passage is a small guard cell. The surrou ...
Founded: 300 BC |
Location:
Highland, United Kingdom
Crosskirk Broch
Crosskirk Broch was a fortification near the present day hamlet of Crosskirk. After thorough archaeological exploration it was destroyed in 1972 since the site had become unsafe due to sea erosion. The site was unusual in having a broch, a large circular fortification, built within an older promontory fortification with a ring wall and blockhouse. Crosskirk was occupied at the end of the Bronze Age. From the early Iron A ...
Founded: 200 BC |
Location:
Highland, United Kingdom
Dun Mor Vaul
Dun Mor Vaul (or simply Dun Mor) is an iron-age broch situated on a rocky knoll on the northern coast of island of Tiree. The broch consists of a drystone tower with an internal diameter of 9.2 metres with walls about 4.5 metres thick. The outer face of the wall survives to a maximum height of 2.2 metres. The entrance is on the southeast side. On the north side of the entrance passage is a small side-chamber, of a type us ...
Founded: 0-100 AD |
Location:
Isle of Tiree, United Kingdom
West Burrafirth Broch
Borgarfjörð, the 'fjord of the borg', now West Burra Firt, was so named by the Norsemen on account of the borg (broch) or 'Pictish tower', which still stands on the little holm north of West Burra Firth pier, now greatly ruined. The broch dates to the very early 1st century AD and in the 19th century was 'connected with the land by a bridge of large stepping-stones over which the sea flow ...
Founded: 0 - 100 AD |
Location:
Haroldswick, United Kingdom
Dun Ardtreck
Dun Ardtreck is a D-shaped dun, or 'semi-broch', situated on a rocky knoll on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. It encloses an area of about 13 by 10 metres. It was constructed with a ruidmentary hollow-wall. The entrance is particularly well-preserved with door-checks characteristic of brochs. The entrance to a guard cell led off to the right behind the door-checks. Dun Ardtreck was excavated by Euan W. ...
Founded: 115 BC |
Location:
Isle of Skye, United Kingdom
Broch of Gurness
The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that th ...
Founded: 500-200 BC |
Location:
Orkney, United Kingdom
Midhowe Broch
Midhowe Broch is an iron-age structure situated on a narrow promontory between two steep-sided creeks, on the north side of Eynhallow Sound. The broch is part of an ancient settlement, part of which has been lost to coastal erosion. The broch got its name from the fact that it"s the middle of three similar structures that lie grouped within 500 metres of each other and Howe from the Old Norse word haugr meaning mound ...
Founded: 500-200 BC |
Location:
Orkney, United Kingdom
Broch of Burrian
The Broch of Burrian is an Iron Age structure, which stands on a small headland next to a rocky shoreline. It is separated from the hinterland by a series of defensive earthworks. The broch has an external diameter of 18 metres and an internal diameter of 9.5 metres. The entrance passage is on the southeast side, and the walls are solid. There is a small room in the inner wall of the broch on the northeast side. The broc ...
Founded: 500-200 BC |
Location:
Orkney, United Kingdom
Caisteal Grugaig
Caisteal Grugaig is an Iron Age broch standing on a small rocky knoll on a grassy slope. The 'Glenelg Brochs' of Dun Telve and Dun Troddan are a few miles to the south. Caisteal Grugaig should not be confused with the 'semi-broch' known as Dun Grugaig which is also near Glenelg. The broch has an external diameter of around 16.5 metres and an internal diameter of around 9.6 metres. The broch was built ...
Founded: 100 BC - 100 AD |
Location:
Lochalsh, United Kingdom
Clickimin Broch
The Broch of Clickimin is a large and well preserved, though somewhat restored broch near Lerwick. Originally built on an island in Clickimin Loch (now increased in size by silting and drainage), it was approached by a stone causeway. The water-level in the loch was reduced in 1874, leaving the broch high and dry. The broch is situated within a walled enclosure and, unusually for brochs, features a large 'blockhouse' betw ...
Founded: 200-100 BC |
Location:
Lerwick, United Kingdom
Old Scatness Broch
Old Scatness is an archeological site consisting of medieval, Viking, Pictish, and Bronze Age remains. It has been a settlement for thousands of years, each new generation adding buildings, and leveling off old ones. A broch was discovered in 1975 and has been dated to 400-200 BC. The site is managed by the Shetland Amenity Trust. In the summer, costumed guides provide tours of the site and the replica Iron Age and Pictis ...
Founded: 400-200 BC |
Location:
Shetland, United Kingdom
Dun Carloway Broch
Dun Carloway is one of the best preserved examples of a broch towers in Scotland. Broch is a type of fortification found only in Scotland. There are well over 500 of them across the country, the majority in northern and western Scotland and the islands. Brochs emerged in the Iron Age around 2,300 years ago. They stopped being built in the early centuries AD. Brochs developed from strong circular houses into tall, imposin ...
Founded: 0-100 AD |
Location:
Outer Hebrides, United Kingdom
Dun Troddan
Dun Troddan is one of the best preserved brochs in Scotland. It stands on a level rock platform north of the Abhainn a’Ghlaine Bhig, in the lower reaches of Gleann Beag. The neighbouring broch of Dun Telve lies 470 metres to the west, whilst the 'semi-broch' known as Dun Grugaig is around 2 kilometres to the southeast. Dun Troddan was first sketched in about 1720 when it was still an intact tower. It is t ...
Founded: 100 BC - 100 AD |
Location:
Glenelg, United Kingdom
Mousa Broch
Broch of Mousa is the finest preserved Iron Age broch (round tower) in Shetland. It is the tallest still standing in the world and amongst the best-preserved prehistoric buildings in Europe. It is thought to have been constructed circa 100 BC, one of 570 brochs built throughout Scotland. The site is managed by Historic Scotland. It has one of the smallest overall diameters of any broch, as well as one of the thickest wal ...
Founded: 100 BC |
Location:
Sandwick, United Kingdom