Glenelg Brochs, Scotland
What is a broch? No, it’s not a type of jewellery. A broch is actually a uniquely-Scottish type of prehistoric architecture. A concentric, double-walled roundtower built for fortification against invasion. Though found in hundreds of carbon copies across Scotland, brochs did not make it beyond Scottish borders. Two of these fascinating structures – complete with narrow, hidden staircases tucked in the hollow spaces between walls and secreted underground passages and chambers – rise from the misty woods of Glen Beag. Located within a stone’s throw of the beloved and iconic Isle of Skye, Glenelg’s two brochs are fantastically Iron Age. Easily accessible from the road through through a cheery green field framed by stone fences, Dun Telve, as this broch is known, is among the tallest remaining stone brochs. Dating 2,300-1,900 years old, it is relatively intact for its age and delicate design. What’s interesting is its closeness to a second broch, Dun Troddan. As fortified structures, brochs were usually solitary beings. Possibly one broch was erected to replace the other, or did the families of each broch live there at the same time? Add that to the list of unexplained historical mysteries…
Top tip: Visit at sunrise or sunset to feel the might of the brochs’ Iron Age mystique.
Read More Ancient Scotland
- Aviemore Stone Circle – Cairngorms
- Urquhart Castle – Inverness
- Callanish Stones – Outer Hebrides
- Dun Carloway – Isle of Lewis
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