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Sources

Where the facts come from

Every factual claim on this site links to its source. This is the full list.

How we checked

Each fact was written alongside its source. Our build script stores the source text and, for every fact, checks that the key words and figures really appear in it. 108 of 108 checks passed when this site was last built (checked 3 Nov 2026). Where we couldn’t read a source, we left the claim out. We quote short phrases only, and never reproduce anyone’s photographs or plans.

Figures that change

Opening times, entry and access change, so we don’t give them. This site gives no travel advice.

What we leave out

This is a site about the history of brochs and about how to read them. It isn’t a visitor guide with live opening times, prices, boat times or access advice. Where a source gives an interpretation or says the answer is unknown, we say so rather than choose for it. Where two sources give different numbers or dates, we show both rather than pick one.

Historic Environment Scotland: visitor and history pages (20)

Historic Environment Scotland: Statement of Significance and blog (2)

UNESCO World Heritage Centre (1)

Shetland Amenity Trust (1)

UK government (DCMS and the Department for Education) (2)

When sources disagree

Where sources give different dates or numbers, or tell a story differently, we show all of it, with links, and say how we handle it.

How many brochs were there?

How we handle it: Historic Environment Scotland’s visitor pages say there are well over 500 brochs in Scotland, and UNESCO’s Tentative List entry says approximately 500 broch sites. Historic Environment Scotland’s own Statement of Significance for Mousa says about 80 known sites meet its definition of a broch, with estimates of possible sites from 150 to 600. The Statement says most possible sites have not been investigated and the ways of judging them vary.

When was Mousa built?

How we handle it: Historic Environment Scotland’s Mousa page says about 300 BC. Its Statement of Significance says the date has not been directly established, and theories place it as early as 400 BC or as late as the 1st century AD. Shetland Amenity Trust and UNESCO’s Tentative List entry both give 400 to 200 BC for broch towers.

Where were the eloping couple going?

How we handle it: Historic Environment Scotland’s Mousa page says the couple in Egil’s Saga were shipwrecked on the way to Iceland. Its Statement of Significance says they were shipwrecked on Mousa on their way to Dublin, and later found their way to Iceland.

How tall is Mousa?

How we handle it: Historic Environment Scotland’s Mousa page and UNESCO’s Tentative List entry say 13 m. The Statement of Significance measures 13.2 m. The sources do not say whether 13 m is a rounded figure.

How tall is Dun Troddan?

How we handle it: Two Historic Environment Scotland pages about the same broch give 7.6 m and 7.4 m. The pages do not say why.

How many brochs line Eynhallow Sound?

How we handle it: Historic Environment Scotland’s Gurness page says at least 10. Its Midhowe page says at least nine. Both say “at least”, so both could be true.

“Unhandy” or “awkward”?

How we handle it: The Orkneyinga Saga was written down around AD 1200. Historic Environment Scotland’s Mousa history page quotes Earl Harold finding the broch “an unhandy place to get at”; the Statement of Significance, quoting “one translation”, gives “an awkward place to get at”. When a quote has been translated, the words are the translator’s choice.

Iron working at Midhowe?

How we handle it: Historic Environment Scotland says an iron-smelting hearth is still visible at Midhowe, but that the finds from the 1930s showed bronze-working, “but rather oddly not iron working”.

Homes, forts or status symbols?

How we handle it: Historic Environment Scotland says broch towers had some defensive features but were most likely built to show status. At Clickimin it says we don’t know which, and it may have been both. The Mousa Statement says Mousa was defensible but not built for a long siege. UNESCO’s Tentative List entry says the use of brochs is debated.