Isle of Lewis: Dun Carloway Broch

Next on our tour of Isle of Lewis in Scotland, we visited Dun Carloway Broch (Dun Charlabhaigh). This is one of the best preserved Iron Age brochs in Scotland. What is a broch, you might wonder. It's a dwelling constructed during the last few centuries BC. Dun Carloway is believed to have been one of the last constructed, in the last century BC. Brochs had been used for centuries before then and they are found all over western and northern Scotland from Sutherland and Caithness, Orkney, Shetland, Isle of Skye, Barra, various other islands of the Hebrides, and on the western mainland too. We later stayed at a B&B near Dornie and the owner told us about a broch nearby that I'd never heard of. I definitely want to visit that one in the future.

When we arrived at Dun Carloway, it was raining again, a bit more heavily than it had at Callanish, which I covered in the post last week. We put up the hoods of our rain jackets and hurried up the hill toward the broch. It's hard to take photos in the rain because I always fear my camera will get too wet. Also drops get on the lens and distort the photos.

Brochs are interesting architecturally because they are built with two concentric walls fastened together by banks of stone slabs to form a series of internal galleries and stairs. In other words, the stairs are in between the walls. Some believe these were fortifications where extended families could go inside for protection during invasions. Others believe they were simply impressive homes for prominent families. The construction would've protected them in winter from the harsh wind and rain of the islands. It is believed farm animals were kept on the ground floor in winter to protect them from the cold.

the stairs

 The roof of the broch would've been conical and made of thatch, supported by wooden timbers. The brochs would've also had a few timber floors for living quarters for perhaps large extended families.

at the top of the stairs

 Brochs have no big exterior windows, just a few voids in the wall for a small amount of light and air circulation, and one low entrance door, so you can imagine how dark they must have been.

view out over the broch

 Brochs were generally tall and imposing, often constructed on hills. Some were at least 13 meters high and they were built without mortar. The builders of the time must have been very skilled for these structures to have stood for so many centuries.

The interior at ground level showing the two doorways. We went into the one on the far left to access the stairs.

 Some brochs are smaller so it could be that almost everyone, or those who held land, lived in a broch of one size or another because on the islands of Barra and North Uist, it was discovered that there were as many broch ruins as there were tenant farmers during the 18^th century. So, big impressive brochs like Dun Carloway may have been the home of a chief or tribal leader, while smaller brochs were homes of landholding families of lesser rank.

Very low doorway into what might have been a guard room.

 Many brochs of the Hebrides were lived in for generations of the same family. Experts believe the people of the western isles stopped building brochs around the first century AD but many were still occupied. Some people even built later houses within the walls of the roofless brochs.

The loch below the broch.

Local legend says that during the 1500s the Morrison Clan of Ness carried out a cattle raid on the local Clan MacAuly. They were caught red-handed but took refuge in Dun Carloway and blocked the door. Donald Cam MacAuly climbed up the outside wall of the broch and threw burning heather down into the interior to smoke out the raiders. This leads historians to believe the walls of the broch were much higher and more complete at that time.

Local resident

 After it was abandoned, prior to 1797, Dun Carloway was mostly ignored by the general public. That year marks the first mention of the broch in print. It is believed ancient sites like this broch were simply considered to be part of the landscape and not worthy of mention. In the 1800s people became more interested in ancient structures and monuments. They soon discovered the brochs predated the Viking age by several centuries. Dun Carloway was taken into state care in 1887.

Click on photo to enlarge

click on photo to enlarge

The above photos show what the interior of a broch might have looked like and gives some historical information.

I hope you've enjoyed this peek inside a broch. We'll continue our tour of Isle of Lewis next time.
Thanks!
Vonda
www.vondasinclair.com

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