Scotland in Pagan Times; The Iron AgeAnderson, Joseph
History
Scotland in Pagan Times; The Iron Age
Anderson, Joseph
Scotland -- Antiquities
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 167.—Ground plan of doorway of Broch at Loch Duich,
with its guard-chamber. (Wall 12 feet thick.)]
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
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account