Broch

Broch, Burgh, Brugh (from brough, the Scots form of A.S. burh, burg = a fort, a fortified enclosure), local names for the Scottish round towers, which figure in old antiquarian works as "Picts' towers" or "Pictish towers," and which are known to the Gaelic-speaking natives as "duns." They are all constructed on one plan. The circular base is about 60 ft. in diameter; the walls are of Cyclopean masonry some 15 ft. thick, sloping inwards as they rise, and enclosing a central area, in some cases containing a well, and always open to the sky. There is a single doorway, sometimes with a guard-chamber at one side or on both sides in the thickness of the wall, in which are also contained the chambers, stairs, and galleries, and all the openings, with the exception of the doorway, look into the central space. Dr. Joseph Anderson, who dealt with the subject in his Rhind lectures (Scotland in Pagan Times - The Iron Age), estimates that there are about 300 of these erections still standing in the five northern counties of Scotland and in the northern and western islands; beyond this area very few are to be found. The typical broch is that of Mousa, on a small island to the E. of Shetland, to which Erling, about 1150, carried off Margaret, mother of Harold, the then Earl of Orkney, who laid siege to the place, but being unable to take it, consented to the marriage. This, though the upper part is gone, is in better preservation than any other broch; the remaining portion is about 40 ft. high, and has six galleries in the thickness of the walls. The brochs differ greatly from the round towers of Brechin and Abernethy, and from the Irish round towers, all which have much greater elevation in proportion to their base. Sir John Lubbock compared the Scottish brochs to the nuraghe (q.v.) of Sardinia. There is, however, little in common between them except their shape; in internal plan they are entirely different. These buildings are peculiar to Scotland, and though they are generally considered to be of Celtic origin and post-Roman in date, not one has been found elsewhere, nor is any edifice with similar characteristics known outside the region inhabited by Celtic races. No record exists of their erection, but they were probably intended as strongholds to which the peaceful agricultural population might retire, with their cattle, when the Northmen descended to plunder and slay. Within recent years these buildings have been examined, and, from the excavations made, objects have been obtained which show that the people who built and used the brochs were agriculturists and herdsmen acquainted with the use of iron, possessing brass and silver, of which they shaped ornaments which prove that they had made some progress in the arts.