Mousa Broch: The Iron Age Tower That Still Stands

Each major claim carries one of three labels. established means supported by primary records, official bodies or several independent reliable sources. shared means the core fact is sound but sources disagree on details, dates or interpretation. traditional means widely repeated but not traceable to a primary or independent source.

Brochs remain one of the great puzzles of Scottish archaeology. Their date, their purpose and who built them are all debated. The saga stories about Mousa were written down centuries after the events they describe. This card distinguishes the measured building from the interpretations.

What is a broch?

established A broch is a round drystone tower found only in Scotland, mostly in the north and west: Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland and the Western Isles. More than 500 are known, most now reduced to low mounds. They were built with two concentric walls of unmortared stone, with galleries between them and a stair climbing inside the wall. A single low entrance passage led into a central courtyard, which may have held timber floors and a roof.

Mousa: the survivor

established Mousa Broch stands 13.3 metres high, the tallest broch still standing and the only one complete nearly to its original top. It is regarded as one of the best-preserved prehistoric buildings in Europe. Its walls are very thick and its internal diameter among the smallest of any broch, which made it unusually stable. Its stair begins at the second level of the wall and spirals up through the galleries to the wall-head, where visitors can still walk.

shared Brochs are often dated to the last centuries BC, and Mousa is usually given a date of around 300 BC. Radiocarbon dating of brochs generally points to the period from about 400 BC to the first centuries AD, and dates for individual sites vary. "Around 2,000 years old" is a safe description.

Who built it, and why?

shared Archaeologists disagree about what brochs were for. They were once seen as defensive refuges against raiders; they lack windows and have a single narrow entrance. Many archaeologists now see them as the homes of high-status families, built to impress as much as to defend, and as centres of farming communities, since many brochs are surrounded by smaller houses. Whatever their purpose, they show sophisticated engineering by Iron Age farmers.

Mousa in the sagas

shared Mousa is one of the few brochs named in the Norse sagas, written down in Iceland in the thirteenth century. In Egil's Saga, a couple eloping from Norway around 900 are shipwrecked on Mousa and spend the winter in the broch. In the Orkneyinga Saga, in 1153, Erlend the Young carries off Margaret, mother of Earl Harald Maddadsson, and holds her in the broch; Harald besieges it but finds it too strong to take, and eventually agrees to their marriage. The stories show that the broch was still standing, and still defensible, more than a thousand years after it was built.

Storm petrels

established The island of Mousa is a nature reserve and home to around 6,800 breeding pairs of European storm petrels, about 8 per cent of the British population. These tiny seabirds nest in crevices in stone walls, including the broch itself, and return from the sea only after dark to avoid predators. On calm, overcast summer nights visitors on late boat trips can see them flitting around the tower and hear their churring calls from inside the walls.

Visiting

established Mousa is uninhabited. A seasonal passenger boat runs from Sandwick, about 14 miles (23 km) south of Lerwick. The broch is a scheduled monument in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.

• Mousa Broch was built without any mortar.
• At 13.3 metres, it is the tallest broch still standing.
• There are more than 500 brochs in Scotland, and none anywhere else.
• A Norse earl besieged it in 1153 and failed to take it.
• Storm petrels nest inside its walls and arrive only after dark.

• Disputed: When Mousa Broch was built. The usual date of around 300 BC is an estimate. Radiocarbon dating of brochs generally points to about 400 BC to the first centuries AD, and dates for individual sites vary. "Around 2,000 years old" is a safe description.
• Myth: Brochs were purely defensive forts. They were once seen as refuges against raiders, but many archaeologists now see them as the homes of high-status families, built to impress as much as to defend. Their purpose is still debated.
• Disputed: The saga stories of Mousa as history. Egil's Saga and the Orkneyinga Saga were written down in the thirteenth century, centuries after the events they describe. They show only that the broch was still standing and defensible.