From the first settlers to World Heritage plans
Before the brochs, the broch-building years, the Romans, Vikings and sagas, later centuries and today.
Jump to: Before the brochs | The broch-building years | Brochs and Rome | After the towers | Vikings and sagas | Later centuries | Today | For teachers
Before the brochs
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
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
Brochs are a kind of Iron Age roundhouse. Historic Environment Scotland: Mousa Broch Broch towers probably developed from earlier roundhouses that grew more and more complex. Historic Environment Scotland: Carn Liath, history and stories
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
The broch-building years
Brochs first appeared about 2,300 years ago. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Beag Broch, history and stories
Shetland Amenity Trust dates brochs to around 400 to 200 BC. Shetland Amenity Trust: World Heritage Status 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
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
Dun Carloway on Lewis stands 9 m tall and was probably built about 200 BC. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Carloway
Edin’s Hall broch was probably built in the first two centuries AD. Historic Environment Scotland: Edin’s Hall Broch, history and stories
Historic Environment Scotland says broch-building stopped around AD 100, though brochs may have stayed in use. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Carloway
Our sources give different dates for Mousa: see when sources disagree.
Brochs and Rome
A fragment of a Roman bronze vessel was found at Midhowe. Historic Environment Scotland: Midhowe Broch, history and stories 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
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
After the towers
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 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
Excavations suggest Dun Carloway may have been used until about AD 1000. Historic Environment Scotland: Dun Carloway
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
Vikings and sagas
Vikings from Norway settled at Jarlshof in the 800s. Historic Environment Scotland: Jarlshof, history and stories “Borg” is the Old Norse word for a fort. Historic Environment Scotland: Jarlshof, history and stories
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
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)
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 Egil’s Saga was written down around AD 1230. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
Two Historic Environment Scotland texts send the couple to different places: see when sources disagree.
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 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
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) The Orkneyinga Saga was written down around AD 1200. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
Shetland passed from Norway to Scotland in 1469. Historic Environment Scotland: Jarlshof, history and stories
Later centuries
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
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) Walter Scott named Jarlshof (“earl’s house”) in his novel The Pirate; its proper name is Sumburgh. Historic Environment Scotland: Jarlshof, history and stories
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)
Rubble was cleared from Mousa in 1861, and again in 1919. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018)
The water level of the Loch of Clickimin was lowered in 1874. Historic Environment Scotland: Clickimin Broch, history and stories
Mousa was one of the first monuments taken into State care, in 1885. Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance, Mousa Broch (last reviewed 2018) In 1885 the Glenelg brochs were among the earliest monuments passed into State care. Historic Environment Scotland: Glenelg Brochs, history and stories
Today
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 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)
Shetland Amenity Trust says the three sites were first accepted onto the UK Tentative List in 2011. Shetland Amenity Trust: World Heritage Status 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
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) The upper galleries have ceilings and floors only one flagstone thick. Historic Environment Scotland blog: Getting the measure of brochs (18 October 2019)
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)
For teachers: where this fits
The word “broch” does not appear in the national curriculum in England. Department for Education: National curriculum in England, history programmes of study
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
So brochs fit best as enrichment alongside that unit, not as a required topic (our suggestion).
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
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 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
Our sources give dates in different ways, and some disagree by a year or tell a story differently. We copy each figure as its source gives it, rather than converting, so every figure matches its link. Every fact was checked against its source on the date shown on the sources page. See when sources disagree for the open questions side by side.
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