BROCH OF MOUSA

SHETLAND

One of the finest and best-preserved prehistoric buildings in northern Europe, built about 2,000 years ago. It featured in the Norse colonization of Orkney and was even mentioned by name in the Orkneyinga Saga:.

Then Erland gathered men together and took up his residence in the Broch of Mousa and made great preparations for defence when Earl Harald came to Hjaltland, he laid siege to the Broch and cut off all communication, but it was difficult to take by assault.

It would have been; it was a massively built defensive tower. This is one of the largest brochs, standing 44 feet (13m) high, and it is the only one that stands to its full original height. It also has one of the thickest wall-bases, and consequently one of the smallest interiors. Its excellent state of preservation is due partly to its unusually massive construction and partly to its remote location. Because the building is a drystone construction, it would be easy to damage and disrupt.

Access is by a single door at ground level. Inside, it is possible to climb a staircase built into the thickness of the wall to reach an open walkway at the top.

In its first phase, the broch was a complex wooden roundhouse, with an upper floor resting on a ledge 7 feet (2.1m) above the ground. A second upper floor or perhaps the roof was supported on a second ledge 13 feet (4m) above the ground. A water tank was cut into the bedrock.

The wooden roundhouse was later demolished and a small wheelhouse was erected in the interior.

The Norse occupations that feature in the Orkneyinga Saga are reflected in certain features. The early low lintels of the entrance were pulled out and the outer doorway was doubled in height, which implies that the interior and the doorway were so liall of debris that the Norsemen had to take out the door lintel and raise the passage roof simply in order to gain access. Today the door has been restored to its original low height.

BRYNAICH

See People: Taliesin.