Part 15

These galleries, situated in the heart of the wall, are six in number. Each begins about 3 feet 9 inches in front of the stair, and goes round the whole tower on the level till it comes against the back of the stair, which closes it at that end, so that entrance to the gallery or exit from it can only be obtained by stepping across the space intervening between the end of the gallery floor and the steps of the stair. The floors of the galleries are formed of flat undressed slabs, the end of which reach into the walls on both sides. These slabs are about 6 inches thick, and those whose under surfaces form the roof of the first gallery present their upper surfaces as the floor of the second, and so throughout. None of the galleries exceed 5 feet 6 inches in height or 3 feet 2 inches in width, and some of the upper spaces are now much narrower; but as the position of the upper walls has evidently shifted, the original dimensions of the upper galleries cannot be ascertained. Four of the galleries that now remain (for the tower is incomplete at top) are lighted by four vertical ranges of windows all looking into the interior court. One range of fourteen openings is over the main entrance. Another of eighteen openings is over the entrance to the stairs. The third set has seventeen openings, and the fourth is imperfect, many of the lintels having been broken out. The peculiarities of these windows are—(1) that they are placed close to each other, vertically, with merely the thickness of a lintel between each opening; (2) they are wider than they are high, the greatest width being 2 feet 9 inches, and the greatest height not exceeding a foot; (3) they diminish in size gradually from the lowest to the highest; and (4) they do not range so far upwards as to include the two upper galleries, which are windowless.

Let us now group the main features of this singular building. It is a circular tower, composed of a dry-built wall 15 feet thick, enclosing a court 20 feet in diameter. The wall rises to a height of 45 feet, and has no opening to the outside except the doorway which gives access to the court. Opening from the court are a series of chambers on the ground floor constructed in the thickness of the wall and rudely vaulted with overlapping masonry. Above these are successive ranges of level galleries, also in the thickness of the wall, each going round the tower, and placed so that the roof of the one below always forms the floor of the next above. These galleries are crossed successively by a stair from which access to them is obtained by facing round in the ascent and stepping across the vacant space forming the well of the stair. The three lower galleries only are lighted, and the windows are placed in vertical ranges so close to each other as to be separated only by their upper and lower lintels.

Each of these features, taken by itself, is specially remarkable, and the presence in the one building of such a group of features that are wholly unfamiliar to us invests it with a character that is distinctly peculiar. From this examination of its character, it becomes obvious that although the construction and arrangements of the building are clearly those of a place of strength, it is incapable of association by way of relationship with any variety of castle known in historic times. But a wider survey of the remains of the ancient strongholds of the people who have occupied the land in times of which we have no distinct or detailed historic record will show that it has relationships so close as to amount to an almost actual identity with many similar structures in different parts of Scotland.

For instance, in the small valley of Glenbeg, which runs nearly parallel with Glenelg, in the west of Inverness-shire, there are two such structures. One is situated on the edge of the meadow which lies in the bottom of the valley. It is greatly destroyed; more than half the circle of the wall is gone, and part of the height of the portion that remains is wanting. The internal diameter of the tower, at the level of the rubbish which encumbers the floor, is 33½ feet, and the thickness of the wall 11 feet. The doorway (Fig. 163), which is the only opening to the outside, is 3 feet 5 inches wide at the head, the lower part concealed with rubbish. About 4 feet inside the outer plane of the wall there is a rebate for a door (Fig. 164), with checks in the shape of large slabs set edgewise in the wall. Within these checks the passage widens to 5 feet, and the roof rises as shown in the section, Fig. 165. On the south side of the passage there is a guard-chamber opening from it, and constructed in the thickness of the wall. Three galleries and part of a fourth remain, but the stair is gone. The galleries are lighted by vertical ranges of windows looking to the interior. The greatest height of wall remaining is not over 30 feet, but 7 feet of its height were taken by the contractor for the Bernera Barracks in 1722. It must therefore, before that time, have been nearly as high as Mousa now is.

At the distance of less than a mile up the valley on the same side, and placed on a considerable eminence, is another ruined structure of the same kind (Fig. 166), but more dilapidated. No part of the height now exceeds 25 feet. The diameter of the tower internally has been about 30 feet, and the wall is 12 feet thick. Traces of chambers on the ground floor are visible, but choked with rubbish. The door and stairs are gone. Three galleries remain in part. The first is 6 feet high and 4 feet wide, the second 6 feet high and 3½ feet wide, the third inaccessible and somewhat smaller.

These structures, so far as their distinctive features remain unobliterated, present a striking similarity alike in the manner of their construction and the nature of their arrangements to those of Mousa. They vary in certain details, as in size, in thickness of wall, in the presence of a guard-chamber in connection with the passage, but in all the essential features of plan, construction, and arrangements they are substantially the same.

Near the head of Loch Duich, a few miles from Glenelg, is another ruined tower. It stands on the slope of an eminence close under a high crag. The lower part of the structure is entire, but little remains of its height. Its internal diameter is 31 feet, its thickness of wall 12 feet. The doorway is in the lower side of the building facing the N.E. It is 3 feet wide at the outside, and at 4 feet 3 inches within the outer plane of the wall (Fig. 167) there is a rebate for a door with checks formed of long slabs 9 inches thick, set edgewise in the wall. Behind these is a bar-hole on either side for a long stout bar. The hole, on one side, is long enough for the bar to lie in it permanently, and on the other only long enough to receive its end when pulled across behind a door either constructed of wood or formed of a slab of stone set up against the checks. On the S.E. side of the entrance passage (Fig. 168) is a doorway 18 inches wide and 3 feet high, giving [Illustration: Fig. 168.—Sectional elevation of S.E. side of entrance passage of the Broch at Loch Duich, showing doorway of guard-chamber, and bar-hole (wall 12 feet thick).] access to an oval guard-chamber constructed in the thickness of the wall, 12 feet long, 6 feet wide, and about 7 feet high, roofed in the usual manner by overlapping masonry and flat stones laid across. There are traces of other chambers on the ground floor, and part of a gallery remains over the entrance, but all above is gone. The masonry of this tower is more massive than that of those in Glenbeg, but the general plan and manner of construction are precisely similar in character. In point of fact there is so little deviation from the typical plan of construction among all the examples that are known, that the detailed descriptions of them are for the most part repetitions of features that are closely similar. But as we are dealing with buildings that are in ruins, and, as it appears, with a class of buildings of which no complete example is now known to exist, it is important to determine if possible whether there may be sufficient ground for assigning to the class the general feature of height, of which, in the majority of cases, no direct evidence now remains.

There is distinct evidence on record that a number of these massively built towers were of considerable height. George Low, in 1774, says of the ruined tower or Broch of Burraness, in the island of Yell, in Shetland, that it had an inside diameter of 31 feet, a thickness of wall of 10 feet, and a total height of 20 feet. Of the Cullswick Broch he says that its internal diameter was 26 feet 6 inches, its thickness of wall 18 feet, and the total height remaining 23 feet. Castle Cole (Fig. 169), at the junction of the Blackwater and the Brora, was then 15 feet in height, and part of it still remains of about that height. Dun Dornadilla, in Sutherlandshire (Fig. 170), as described by Mr. Cordiner in 1776, and Mr. Pope of Reay, in 1777, had an internal diameter of 27 feet, and the total height then remaining was estimated at 25 to 30 feet, with three galleries and part of the stair. Maitland, in 1757, describes Dun Alisaig, in Ross, as being 30 feet internal diameter, with 12 feet thickness of wall, and three of the galleries remaining, which implies a height of 25 to 30 feet. Dun Carloway, in Lewis, was 40 feet high in the end of last century, and showed the plan of its galleries with their vertical ranges of windows almost as completely as Mousa. Judging from these examples, which still have, or which in recent times have had a considerable portion of their height remaining, and taking into account the quantity of material which envelops the bases of most of those that have been reduced to the condition of mere mounds of ruin, it seems established by evidence that there were many cases in which the total original height could scarcely have been less than that of Mousa, and that height, as well as bulk, was one of the main features of the typical structure.

These examples will suffice to convey a clear idea of the distinctive features of the type of structure with which we are dealing. Its main features of distinction, by which it separates itself from all known types, are (1) that it is a circular tower of dry-built masonry, wide and lofty, and enclosing within it a central area open to the sky; (2) that all its apertures, except the external opening of the entrance to the central area, look into this enclosed interior court; and (3) that its chambers, stair, and galleries are contained within the thickness of this enclosing wall.

Having thus obtained a distinct conception of the type, we now proceed to determine its range or area. For this purpose it is necessary to ascertain what structures exist in Scotland, or out of it, possessing these typical features.

On the northern declivity of Cockburn Law, in Berwickshire, there is a natural platform projecting from the shoulder of the hill over the valley of the Whitadder water, about 250 feet above the bed of the stream. On this platform there is an irregularly oval enclosure (Fig. 171), the outlines of which are formed by the remains of two parallel earthworks and an outside ditch. The space thus enclosed is occupied by the remains of various smaller enclosures, some circular and others irregular in form. They are nearly all so ruined that nothing can be made of their details. But the principal structure within the enclosure is still capable of such examination as will suffice to determine its typical relationship with the Brochs of the extreme north. It is circular, consisting of a wall 17 feet thick, enclosing an area of 56 feet in diameter. In the thickness of this wall are two elongated oval-shaped chambers, one of which is 33 feet long and 7 feet wide, the other 23 feet long and 7 feet wide. In 1793 the roofs were still on them, and it was then seen that they were covered with a rude vaulting of overlapping masonry. Both these chambers open to the inner area. The only access to this area from the outside is the main doorway, which passes straight through the wall, and is flanked by a guard-chamber constructed in the thickness of the wall on either side. To the left of the doorway are the remains of the staircase, with an elongated chamber opposite the foot of the stair. No remains of galleries exist owing to the absence of the whole upper part of the structure, but the presence of the stair implies that they once existed. The masonry is massive in character (Fig. 172), and the structure is also remarkable for its great size, being three times the width of Mousa and twice that of the Glenelg Brochs. But its features of form and character, and all the arrangements of its details, so far as they now exist, are those of the typical Broch structure; and, taken together, they form a group of features and arrangements which do not exist in any other type of structure.

On the highest elevation of the Torwood, in the parish of Dunipace in Stirlingshire, are the remains of a circular structure, excavated in 1864 by Colonel Joseph Dundas. Its appearance previous to its excavation was that of a conical hillock situated nearly on the verge of a precipitous crag, and enclosed on the accessible side by the remains of a double wall of fortification. After excavation it was found to be the ruin of a circular tower of uncemented masonry which, by the gradual dilapidation of its walls, had become a conical hillock of stones covered with grass and heather, and overgrown by a clump of large fir-trees. The structure, now cleared from the superincumbent mass of ruin, is a circular wall 15 feet thick, enclosing a central area of 35 feet in diameter. The entrance doorway has some of the massive lintels still upon it. It is about 7 feet high and 3 feet wide at the door-checks, behind which are the usual bar-holes (shown at A A in the ground plan and section, Figs. 173, 174). To the left of the doorway is the staircase, as usual in the thickness of the wall. The height of wall remaining is not sufficient to show any traces of the galleries, but the presence of the stair implies their former existence. There are no chambers in the thickness of the wall on the ground floor, but all the other features of the building are those of the typical Broch structure.

On the other side of the valley of the Forth, and farther west, at Coldoch, in Perthshire, a similar mound, covering the ruins of a circular tower of uncemented masonry, was excavated in 1870. The structure consists of a circular wall (as shown on the ground plan, Fig. 175) 17 feet thick, enclosing a central area of 30 feet in diameter. The doorway on the east side passes straight through the wall, and is three feet wide, with checks for the door about half-way through the thickness of the wall, and immediately behind them the usual bar-holes. To the left of the doorway is the staircase. No remains of the upper galleries exist, but the presence of the stair implies that they did exist. Opening from the central area are the entrances to three chambers in the thickness of the wall. They are nearly of a size, 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and a little over 6 feet high. One still retains its roof, rudely vaulted with overlapping masonry. In this case also the group of features characteristic of the structure and its arrangements is such as can be found only in the typical structure of the Broch.

These three examples are all that are known on the mainland of Scotland south of the Caledonian valley. A few years ago they were mere grass-covered hillocks, indistinguishable from many others that are yet to be seen in various quarters of the same wide district of country. It is impossible to say how many of these unexamined mounds, which exist abundantly in the valleys of the Forth and Teith for instance, may be of similar character. But it is possible to say that where three have been found without being specially looked for, the probability is that more will be found when they are looked for. The present position of our knowledge is that there are three examples south of the Caledonian valley, but if I were to conclude that these three are all that exist in that wide region I should be drawing from my ignorance of the actual facts a conclusion which could only be drawn from complete knowledge obtained by exhaustive investigation.

The case is far otherwise with reference to the district of country that lies to the north of the Caledonian valley and the isles around the northern and western coasts. In such remote and frequently rugged and barren localities the remorseless activity of the agricultural improver has made but little progress in the removal of the ancient landmarks, and Brochs, and sepulchral cairns, stone circles and standing monoliths are still comparatively abundant, though every season diminishes their number. Some years ago I attempted an enumeration of the remains in the northern counties of Scotland that were either certainly known to be Brochs or were inferred to possess that character, judging from external appearances. The list has been published[72] for seven years, and the corrections made upon it during that time have not appreciably affected its total results. These are roughly stated as follows:—in Shetland, there are 75 Brochs; in Orkney, 70; in Caithness, 79; in Sutherland, 60; in Ross-shire, 38; and in Inverness-shire, 47; giving a gross total for the five northern counties of Scotland of 370. Admitting that there must be some instances included in the enumeration which subsequent examination may prove to be remains of a different character, it is equally probable that others will be found which have not been included in the list, and the errors in these opposite directions may be expected nearly to balance each other. But if we suppose that it will be necessary to deduct so large a proportion as 20 per cent, we should still have a gross total of 300 Brochs in the five northern counties. The full significance of such a result is scarcely realised at once. It means that we have here the remains of a period of architectural activity which has no parallel in the early history of our country.

Footnote 72:

_Archæologia Scotica_, vol. v. pp. 178-197.

Whatever may be the effect of future discoveries in increasing the number of examples in the district south of the Caledonian valley, it is clear that the principal area of the type lies within the region to the north of that valley, comprehending the five northern counties of Scotland, and including the northern and western Isles. Within that area they are known to exist abundantly, beyond it sparsely. Out of Scotland the type is totally unknown. It is a type possessing features so distinct and peculiar, so numerous and well marked, so pronounced in their absolute individuality, that if it exists anywhere it is capable of being instantly recognised. But no single instance occurs in Ireland, or Wales, or Cornwall. No trace of it is found in England, France, or Scandinavia. It is absolutely confined to Scotland alone.[73] Having thus established the essential features of the typical form of the Broch structure and determined the area to which it is exclusively confined, I now proceed to notice a few other examples possessing features which may not have been present or prominent in those previously described.

Footnote 73:

The Nuraghi of Sardinia are round towers built of uncemented stones. They are exceedingly numerous in the island, and it has been occasionally asserted that they bear a remarkable resemblance to the Scottish Brochs. It is true that they are like the Brochs externally, because they are round towers, (see Fig. 176), but they possess none of the characteristic features of the typical Broch structure. They contain vaulted and windowless chambers placed vertically above each other in the centre of the tower. The access to these chambers is by a winding stair, which traverses the thickness of the wall completely round the central chambers. Sometimes they have a more complex structure, consisting of a central tower rising from a square basement, with chambers also in the basement, as shown in the accompanying section (Fig. 179). It is thus apparent that the typical Nuraghe differs completely in idea from the typical Broch. Although the external form may be in some cases similar, the essential features of the Broch are not found in any one instance in the Sardinian Nuraghi. No Broch has vaulted chambers disposed vertically over each other in the centre of the tower, and no Nuraghe has its centre open, and its chambers, stairs, and galleries arranged in the ring of walling surrounding the central court and windows looking into it as the Brochs have.