Caithness broch project: Group identifies site for broch replica

The ruins of more than 500 such building can be found across the countryside from the Northen Isles to the Borders, yet experts remain divided over what they were for.  

But now there is a plan to shed some light on the mystery with a group planning to build the first new broch for almost 2,000 years. 

Charity the Caithness Broch Project (CBP) has identified a site to build on and are raising funds to start putting stone on stone and recreate history, while also boosting tourism in the area.  

After a lengthy search for the perfect site, the group say they plan to raise the walls of their broch on an area near the village of Latheron, south of Wick, known as Flygla. 

Discussions are already underway with locals about building the structure nearby, and establishing it as an educational and archaeological research centre.  

CBP Chairman, Robin Herrick, said: “We have found the owner and local representatives to be very supportive of our outline plans, and we look forward to consulting with the local residents and stakeholders in the coming weeks to ensure their insights and concerns are integral to the project’s next steps.” 

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Once thought of to be the works of migrating tribes from Belgium, brochs are now considered a wholly Scottish construction, though they predate the founding of the modern country by millennia.  

Made without mortar, they tower over the countryside, and would seem to be a precursor to the defensive castles of medieval times. 

Made with two walls, one inside the other, some have a guard-cell at the door and stairs which wind up through the cavity made by the walls. 

Each would have had several floors, and it is believed they would have been roofed with a large thatch dome.  

Yet their defensive attributes have been called into question as many are built in areas where there was apparently little to defend.  

Mousa Broch 

Others can be found at the foot of hills, making them simple to siege, while there is a complete lack of battlements or any defensive structures except for the walls.  

Some brochs can be found near water, while others were built on top of naturally occurring springs. But other examples are far from streams and would be difficult to resupply in times of warfare.  

Dating to the time when the Romans invaded Britian, they are not mentioned in the annuls of the legions, and debate still rages over what their purpose was.  

It is thought they may be status symbols for wealthy elite members of the tribes who lived in the land that would become Scotland - or even complicated, reinforced barns for livestock. 

Most stand isolated from other structures, while the vast majority are concentrated in the north of Scotland, chiefly Caithness and the Northern Isles.  

Mousa Broch, on the Shetland Isle of Mousa, is the most complete of the remaining examples of the ancient structures, standing 43 ft high and largely intact.  

The broch as it would appear at Flyga 

The tower, which is mentioned in Viking sagas, is one of the best-preserved prehistoric buildings in the world, yet is found on a tiny island accessible only by boat and would have been little use to a community in war-time except as a refuge.  

But other examples, now mostly ruined, can be found in the south of Scotland, including several in Dumfries and Galloway.  

Who built this southernly group of brochs, isolated from the main concentration of structures by hundreds of miles, remains a mystery.  

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As much as possible, the CBP want to build their broch using techniques which would have been familiar to the original Iron Age builders.  

However, just as the purpose of the buildings remains unknown, their actual appearance in their heyday is a matter of conjecture. 

The group have pooled their knowledge to create images of what their own structure may look like, based on what is known about the ancient relics.  

Project Co-founder and director Iain Maclean said: “We wanted to capture a variety of features found in Broch construction from all over Scotland, so the design isn't a carbon copy of any individual Broch but instead is a kind of chimaera of elements chosen for a number of reasons, ranging from structural robustness, health and safety, or purely because they were interesting. features."  

"(There are) elements of the design such as the roof and the construction of the floors that had to be figured out with a degree of educated guesswork and speculation given that none of these survive in archaeological record”.  

He added that their broch vision was “as honest an interpretation of what a broch looked like as we may ever arrive at.”

CBP director Kenneth McElroy said: “This project will be a hugely important one. Not only do we want this to become a sustainable and successful contribution to the economy of Caithness, but it could become an icon for the county too.”