If it be thus suggested by the relations of the Brochs to the arable lands of the districts in which they are situated, that they belonged to the possessors and cultivators of the soil, the affinities of the typical structure itself go far to show that in its character and origin it is distinctively Celtic. None of its essential features have been observed in any construction outside of the Celtic area. And within that area no building with a stair and an arrangement of galleries similar to that of a Broch has been met with out of Scotland. But the circular wall, with chambers in its thickness, which may be regarded as the germ from which the Broch structure has grown, is a characteristic feature of Celtic construction. We have met with it in the walls of the cashels surrounding the ecclesiastical settlements of Christian times. It is common in Irish Cloghauns and Scottish beehive houses, and is so persistently Celtic that it appears also in Wales and Cornwall. The ground plan of the most perfect of a group of beehive huts at Bodinar, in Cornwall (Fig. 184), exhibits an arrangement of oval chambers in the thickness of its wall precisely similar to the arrangement which prevails in the Brochs. The long narrow gallery (the essential feature of the earth-houses of Scotland, Ireland, and Cornwall) is also a form of construction which is specially characteristic of the Celtic area. The typical Broch structure thus presents a combination of features and forms of construction[78] which are found existing separately in other constructions of Celtic character and origin, although the typical combination which distinguishes the Broch structure from all others is confined to Scotland alone. ----- Footnote 78: The ideal Broch is composed of a series of galleries like those of the earth-houses, superimposed upon a basement with a ground plan like that of the structure at Bodinar, and connected by a stair. Although the stone forts of Ireland occasionally exhibit chambers within the thickness of their walls and have double stairs placed against the interior face of the wall to give access to the wall-head, they never have galleries superimposed on each other, and stairs in the thickness of the wall. ----- [Illustration: Fig. 184.—Ground plan of Structure at Bodinar, Cornwall.] * * * * *