Can you tell me about Scottish brochs?

Dr. dig responds:
What an interesting topic to be studying!

Brochs are mysterious features of British archaeology. These stone structures date from the Iron Age and exist only in the North and West of Scotland. In total, at least seven hundred brochs are known to have existed across Scotland. Many are in a poor state of repair, but the most complete examples look almost like the cooling towers of a power station!

They were built as a type of fortification. Typically, they had one, small, easily blocked and defended entrance leading to a circular "courtyard" within. The walls were double skinned, providing small rooms and storage areas between the inner and outer walls. Steps were also built in the gap between the walls providing access to upper wooden platforms. They were not standard living quarters; people would take refuge in the broch when a raiding party was sighted, possibly taking some of their valuable livestock with them (such as would fit through the entrance anyway).

My favorite sites on the Web to go to find out more on these large Iron Age towers are the following:

Orkney brochs at:
www.orkneyjar.com/history/brochs/index.html

And the Web site of the Ancient Sites Directory:
www.henge.org.uk/highland/glenelg.html

These Web sites will provide you with some super archaeological information, and they will guide you to further sites if you need them for individual brochs located in Scotland (there are over 700 of them!).

You might also want to go to your local library or bookshop and look for the guide, Brochs of Scotland, by J.N.G. Ritchie, published in 1998, by Shire Publications, which publishes a whole series of excellent and affordable little books about archaeology in Britain.