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108 facts about Iron Age brochs, all checked

Every fact on this site in one place, each linked to its source. Our build checks each one against the source text; see the sources page. Where sources disagree you’ll find each one.

Jump to: Brochs in general | How many brochs? | Mousa | World Heritage plans | Other broch sites | The national curriculum in England

Brochs in general

  1. 1 Brochs are found only in Scotland. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Dornaigil Broch, history and stories
  2. 2 Historic Environment Scotland says brochs are the only building type unique to Scotland. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  3. 3 A broch is a drystone tower made of two walls, one inside the other, with a narrow entrance passage and often small cells off the ground floor. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Dornaigil Broch, history and stories
  4. 4 A stone stair winds up between the inner and outer walls to the top. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Dornaigil Broch, history and stories
  5. 5 Brochs are a kind of Iron Age roundhouse. Historic Environment Scotland: Mousa Broch
  6. 6 Broch towers probably developed from earlier roundhouses that grew more and more complex. Historic Environment Scotland: Carn Liath, history and stories
  7. 7 Most brochs are in northern and western Scotland and the islands. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Dornaigil Broch, history and stories
  8. 8 Brochs first appeared about 2,300 years ago. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Beag Broch, history and stories
  9. 9 Historic Environment Scotland says broch-building stopped around AD 100, though brochs may have stayed in use. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Carloway
  10. 10 Brochs are some of the tallest prehistoric buildings in Britain. Historic Environment Scotland blog: Getting the measure of brochs (18 October 2019)
  11. 11 How brochs were built is still argued about by architects, engineers and archaeologists. Historic Environment Scotland blog: Getting the measure of brochs (18 October 2019)
  12. 12 Historic Environment Scotland says broch towers had some defensive features, but were most likely built to show the status of the people who lived in them. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Beag Broch, history and stories
  13. 13 The owners of brochs were often wealthy people with contacts far away. Historic Environment Scotland: Carn Liath, history and stories
  14. 14 UNESCO’s Tentative List entry says the use of brochs is debated. UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Tentative List, Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof: the Zenith of Iron Age Shetland
  15. 15 In treeless parts of Scotland, people built in stone where others in Europe built in timber. UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Tentative List, Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof: the Zenith of Iron Age Shetland
  16. 16 “Borg” is the Old Norse word for a fort. Historic Environment Scotland: Jarlshof, history and stories
  17. 17 Only four brochs still stand close to their original height: Dun Telve, Dun Troddan, Mousa and Dun Carloway. Historic Environment Scotland: Glenelg Brochs, history and stories
  18. 18 Many brochs stood alone, but in Orkney and Caithness, including Midhowe and Gurness, some were surrounded by large settlements. Historic Environment Scotland: Midhowe Broch

How many brochs?

  1. 19 Historic Environment Scotland’s visitor pages say there are well over 500 brochs in Scotland. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Dornaigil Broch, history and stories
  2. 20 Historic Environment Scotland’s Statement of Significance for Mousa says about 80 known sites meet its definition of a broch, though there may be many more. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  3. 21 The same Statement says estimates of possible broch sites range from 150 to 600, but most have not been investigated and the ways of judging them vary. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  4. 22 UNESCO’s Tentative List entry says there are approximately 500 broch sites in Scotland. UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Tentative List, Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof: the Zenith of Iron Age Shetland
  5. 23 The Tentative List entry also says more than 100 were built in Shetland, with similar numbers in Orkney, the North of Scotland and the Western Isles. UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Tentative List, Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof: the Zenith of Iron Age Shetland

Mousa

  1. 24 Mousa Broch is the tallest and best-preserved Iron Age tower in Scotland. Historic Environment Scotland: Mousa Broch
  2. 25 Historic Environment Scotland’s Mousa page says it is thought to have been built in about 300 BC. Historic Environment Scotland: Mousa Broch
  3. 26 The Statement of Significance says Mousa’s building date has not been directly established: theories place it as early as 400 BC or as late as the 1st century AD. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  4. 27 Shetland Amenity Trust dates brochs to around 400 to 200 BC. Shetland Amenity Trust: World Heritage Status
  5. 28 UNESCO’s Tentative List entry dates the broch towers to 400 to 200 BC. UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Tentative List, Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof: the Zenith of Iron Age Shetland
  6. 29 Historic Environment Scotland’s Mousa page says it stands 13 m tall. Historic Environment Scotland: Mousa Broch
  7. 30 The Statement of Significance measures it at 13.2 m tall, with an outside diameter of 15.3 m and an inside space 6.1 m across. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  8. 31 Mousa has the smallest diameter of any broch tower, but much thicker walls. Historic Environment Scotland: Mousa Broch, history and stories
  9. 32 UNESCO’s Tentative List entry says Mousa’s walls are 5 m thick at the base. UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Tentative List, Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof: the Zenith of Iron Age Shetland
  10. 33 Two stone ledges stick out of the inner wall at about 2.1 m and 3.7 m up; they probably held wooden floors. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  11. 34 In the sagas Mousa is called Moseyarborg, which means “the fort of the mossy island”. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  12. 35 Historic Environment Scotland’s Mousa page says an eloping couple sheltered there after being shipwrecked on the way to Iceland in AD 900. Historic Environment Scotland: Mousa Broch
  13. 36 The Statement of Significance says the couple were shipwrecked on Mousa on their way to Dublin, spent the winter in the broch, and later reached Iceland. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  14. 37 Egil’s Saga was written down around AD 1230. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  15. 38 The Orkneyinga Saga was written down around AD 1200. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  16. 39 In AD 1153, Earl Harold besieged Mousa but found it “an unhandy place to get at”, in Historic Environment Scotland’s wording. Historic Environment Scotland: Mousa Broch, history and stories
  17. 40 The Orkneyinga Saga tells how, in AD 1153, Erlend took Margaret, the mother of Earl Harold, to Mousa. Historic Environment Scotland: Mousa Broch, history and stories
  18. 41 The Statement of Significance quotes another translation: “an awkward place to get at”. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  19. 42 In the end the two sides made peace without violence, and Erlend and Margaret were allowed to marry. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  20. 43 The Statement says Mousa was defensible, but does not look built to withstand a long siege. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  21. 44 Mousa was one of the first monuments taken into State care, in 1885. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  22. 45 Rubble was cleared from Mousa in 1861, and again in 1919. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  23. 46 Sir Henry Dryden drew Mousa twice in the 1850s and came back in 1866. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  24. 47 Walter Scott visited Shetland in 1814 and later set his novel The Pirate (1822) partly there. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  25. 48 Small seabirds called petrels nest in gaps in the broch’s stonework; the whole island is an RSPB nature reserve. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
  26. 49 Mousa has been laser-scanned in 3D, including upper galleries the public cannot reach. Historic Environment Scotland blog: Getting the measure of brochs (18 October 2019)
  27. 50 The upper galleries have ceilings and floors only one flagstone thick. Historic Environment Scotland blog: Getting the measure of brochs (18 October 2019)

World Heritage plans

  1. 51 Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof together are on the UK’s Tentative List for World Heritage, as “the Zenith of Iron Age Shetland”. UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Tentative List, Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof: the Zenith of Iron Age Shetland
  2. 52 UNESCO records the entry as submitted on 13 September 2023 by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Tentative List, Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof: the Zenith of Iron Age Shetland
  3. 53 On 10 April 2023 the UK Government announced seven sites it backs for World Heritage, including the Zenith of Iron Age Shetland. DCMS on GOV.UK: Seven sites confirmed in the running for UNESCO World Heritage Status (10 April 2023)
  4. 54 Shetland Amenity Trust says the three sites were first accepted onto the UK Tentative List in 2011. Shetland Amenity Trust: World Heritage Status
  5. 55 UNESCO’s entry says the three sites show over 1,000 years of building from 400 BC: broch, roundhouses, then wheelhouses. UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Tentative List, Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof: the Zenith of Iron Age Shetland

Other broch sites

  1. 56 Gurness is the best-preserved broch village in Scotland. Historic Environment Scotland: Broch of Gurness
  2. 57 Gurness is one of at least 10 brochs along Eynhallow Sound in Orkney. Historic Environment Scotland: Broch of Gurness
  3. 58 Excavations showed the Gurness village began between 500 BC and 200 BC; the broch was left sometime after AD 100. Historic Environment Scotland: Broch of Gurness, history and stories
  4. 59 In the 9th century a Viking woman was buried at Gurness with a sickle blade and a pair of “tortoise” brooches. Historic Environment Scotland: Broch of Gurness, history and stories
  5. 60 People at Gurness ate cod, whale and seal. Historic Environment Scotland: Broch of Gurness, history and stories
  6. 61 Historic Environment Scotland’s Midhowe page says it is one of at least nine brochs on Eynhallow Sound. Historic Environment Scotland: Midhowe Broch
  7. 62 Midhowe stands 4.3 m high today, but could have been twice that. Historic Environment Scotland: Midhowe Broch, history and stories
  8. 63 Inside Midhowe you can still see stone partitions, a spring-fed water tank and a hearth. Historic Environment Scotland: Midhowe Broch, history and stories
  9. 64 One Midhowe building still has an iron-smelting hearth. Historic Environment Scotland: Midhowe Broch, history and stories
  10. 65 Yet the 1930s finds showed bronze-working, “but rather oddly not iron working”. Historic Environment Scotland: Midhowe Broch, history and stories
  11. 66 A fragment of a Roman bronze vessel was found at Midhowe. Historic Environment Scotland: Midhowe Broch, history and stories
  12. 67 The Roman historian Eutropius, writing in the AD 300s, boasted that the king of Orkney had submitted to Emperor Claudius in AD 43. Historic Environment Scotland: Midhowe Broch, history and stories
  13. 68 Dun Carloway on Lewis stands 9 m tall and was probably built about 200 BC. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Carloway
  14. 69 Excavations suggest Dun Carloway may have been used until about AD 1000. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Carloway
  15. 70 Dun Carloway has also been a pottery kiln, a shelter for the Morrisons of Ness in the 1500s (according to tradition) and a family home as late as the 1870s. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Carloway, history and stories
  16. 71 Dun Telve is more than 20 m across and part of it still stands 10 m high. Historic Environment Scotland: Glenelg Brochs, history and stories
  17. 72 Historic Environment Scotland’s Glenelg overview gives Dun Troddan as 7.6 m tall. Historic Environment Scotland: Glenelg Brochs, Dun Telve and Dun Troddan
  18. 73 Its history page gives 7.4 m. Historic Environment Scotland: Glenelg Brochs, history and stories
  19. 74 Dun Telve and Dun Troddan stand only about 500 m apart, which is very unusual. Historic Environment Scotland: Glenelg Brochs, history and stories
  20. 75 In 1885 the Glenelg brochs were among the earliest monuments passed into State care. Historic Environment Scotland: Glenelg Brochs, history and stories
  21. 76 A broken quern-stone for grinding corn is built into Dun Troddan’s hearth. Historic Environment Scotland: Glenelg Brochs, history and stories
  22. 77 Dun Troddan’s ground floor may once have held livestock, with people living on the upper floors. Historic Environment Scotland: Glenelg Brochs, history and stories
  23. 78 Part of Dun Dornaigil still stands 7 m high; its triangular lintel stone is the best surviving example in Scotland. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Dornaigil Broch, history and stories
  24. 79 Dun Dornaigil’s interior has never been dug by archaeologists. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Dornaigil Broch, history and stories
  25. 80 Dun Dornaigil is also called Dun Dornadilla. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Dornaigil Broch
  26. 81 Carn Liath stands 3 m tall today, but could once have been at least three times that. Historic Environment Scotland: Carn Liath, history and stories
  27. 82 Finds at Carn Liath include a copper-alloy ingot and a silver brooch from the AD 300s or 400s, based on Roman types. Historic Environment Scotland: Carn Liath, history and stories
  28. 83 At Dun Beag on Skye, 20 steps of the stone stair survive. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Beag Broch, history and stories
  29. 84 Nobody knows how tall Dun Beag was; comparing with other brochs, about 10 m seems likely. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Beag Broch, history and stories
  30. 85 Medieval and later coins were found at Dun Beag in the 1910s, though no firm conclusions can be drawn from them. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Beag Broch, history and stories
  31. 86 The Dun Beag overview page says the coins were reportedly found in the early 1900s. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Beag Broch
  32. 87 Edin’s Hall, one of very few Lowland brochs, is 22 m across, much larger than a typical Highland broch. Historic Environment Scotland: Edin’s Hall Broch, history and stories
  33. 88 Edin’s Hall broch was probably built in the first two centuries AD. Historic Environment Scotland: Edin’s Hall Broch, history and stories
  34. 89 Historic Environment Scotland says Edin’s Hall may be closer to a big Iron Age roundhouse than a broch. Historic Environment Scotland: Edin’s Hall Broch, history and stories
  35. 90 At Clickimin, near Lerwick, a stone carved with a pair of feet may be linked to kingship ceremonies. Historic Environment Scotland: Clickimin Broch
  36. 91 People lived on the Clickimin promontory from at least the Bronze Age, about 1000 BC, until about AD 500. Historic Environment Scotland: Clickimin Broch, history and stories
  37. 92 The water level of the Loch of Clickimin was lowered in 1874. Historic Environment Scotland: Clickimin Broch, history and stories
  38. 93 We don’t know who built Clickimin, or whether it was a stronghold or a sign of status; it may have been both. Historic Environment Scotland: Clickimin Broch, history and stories
  39. 94 People first settled at Jarlshof around 2700 BC, and it stayed in use until the AD 1600s. Historic Environment Scotland: Jarlshof Prehistoric and Norse Settlement
  40. 95 The Jarlshof broch now stands 2.4 m high. Historic Environment Scotland: Jarlshof, history and stories
  41. 96 Wheelhouses are named for roofs held up by walls that spread out like the spokes of a wheel. Historic Environment Scotland: Jarlshof, history and stories
  42. 97 Vikings from Norway settled at Jarlshof in the 800s. Historic Environment Scotland: Jarlshof, history and stories
  43. 98 Shetland passed from Norway to Scotland in 1469. Historic Environment Scotland: Jarlshof, history and stories
  44. 99 Walter Scott named Jarlshof (“earl’s house”) in his novel The Pirate; its proper name is Sumburgh. Historic Environment Scotland: Jarlshof, history and stories
  45. 100 At Dun Telve, large flat slabs tie the two walls together and also form the floors of narrow galleries between them. Historic Environment Scotland: Glenelg Brochs, history and stories
  46. 101 At Dun Beag the entrance is a narrow passage, and door-checks show it was once closed by a timber door. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Beag Broch, history and stories
  47. 102 Carn Liath has very thick walls, settings for two wooden door-frames and a small chamber that might have been a guard lodge. Historic Environment Scotland: Carn Liath, history and stories
  48. 103 The Broch of Gurness was probably home to the chief family of the community. Historic Environment Scotland: Broch of Gurness, history and stories

The national curriculum in England

  1. 104 At KS2, pupils in England study “changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age”; one non-statutory example is “Iron Age hill forts: tribal kingdoms, farming, art and culture”. Department for Education: National curriculum in England, history programmes of study
  2. 105 The curriculum names concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance. Department for Education: National curriculum in England, history programmes of study
  3. 106 Pupils should understand how evidence is used to make claims, and why there are different accounts of the past. Department for Education: National curriculum in England, history programmes of study
  4. 107 At KS3, pupils in England study “an aspect or theme in British history that consolidates and extends pupils’ chronological knowledge from before 1066”; one non-statutory example is “Britain’s changing landscape from the Iron Age to the present”. Department for Education: National curriculum in England, history programmes of study
  5. 108 The word “broch” does not appear in the national curriculum in England. Department for Education: National curriculum in England, history programmes of study