Mousa Broch | Scotland from the Sky
Вставка
- Опубліковано 31 лип 2024
- James Crawford, Scotland from the Sky writer and presenter, and Publishing Manager at HES, explores Mousa Broch, Shetland.
Aerial photography held in the Historic Environment Scotland archives will showcase Scotland’s ever-changing landscapes in Scotland from the Sky which returns to BBC One at 9pm on Wednesday 17 April.
Visit our Mousa Broch webpage: www.historicenvironment.scot/...
©️ BBC - Розваги
The broch was for living with a secondary purpose being a safe place from intruders. Several families probably lived in a broch at the same time abs had their own levels. I think of it kind of like Iron Age apartment living. The gale force winds that come off the coast would've been quite difficult to live in if they were living in wooden houses. Hence, the round shape is perfect for this type of wind. Each level had a purpose: Animals/ farming equipment on lower level, living quarters above them, followed by a central heating system with two cold air returns on each side of the furnace to heat the air as it came into the broch! It's an ingenious creation! I LOVE my ancestors!!
My assessment of Broch's is that, the larger more complete examples are surprisingly sophisticated.
The most complete almost mimics the shape of a modern cooling tower, which has a partial hyperbole, and is very stable.
The construction would serve two primary purposes, First shelter from the elements, which in Scotland can be quite inclement, and second protection from raiders.
The shelter aspect mimics modern cavity wall construction, where the outer wall keeps the rain out, and the inner wall keeps the heat in.
Protection from raiders, is provided, first by the height, which would preclude anyone trying to set fire to the roof, and then climb in, the density of the wall, and, again, by the double wall structure. This would mean that anyone trying to break through the wall from the outside, would find themselves in a narrow corridor, where they could easily be dispatched by a large rock on their head. It would also be very difficult to defend themselves in such a narrow space.
The stair within the wall would provide access to the top which would give an ideal lookout position. In addition the steps would act as 'wall ties' to help stabilise the two sheaths of the wall. Other spaces between the walls would be cooler than the central space, and would provide storage space for food, and maybe also for sleeping in.
In effect, they are miniature castles. Their internal layout would be decided by the individual community's experience and living style requirements.
Brilliant! I didn't look at anyone else's opinions before I wrote mine and I'm in agreement with everything you wrote!
need to visit Mousa .. been to Clannish Broch .. I do a bit dry stone walling .. the Brochs are the ultimate in the craft still standing with no mortar after 2000 years , result.... they are shelter, fortification and best use of the available material, for an extended family ..
I visited the broch a couple of times before the fence went up round the top. The first time I came across the fence I thought why. The broch had been there for two thousand years & as far as I know nobody had ever fallen off.
Mousa Broch was an astronomical device and the internal design tells when it is the Summer Solstice and presumably much more. Probably built by the Megalithic builders at the same time as Maes Howe on Orkney. The rest may have been built as communication towers across the isles and as Shetland’s weather was warmer and drier then, people were growing lots of barley, the grain would have been stored in the galleries as a temperature controlled environment. When the weather became colder and wetter at the end of the Iron Age they wouldn’t have been as suitable or necessary for that purpose as it would have been a lot harder to grow and ripen grain. Maybe the population shrank as a result as well.
Likely have been different purposes built into the brochs, which use might have varied through the ages they where in use. Towards 'the end' might just housing for livestock. One can magine that putting up such a large structure also involves quite a certin degree of symbol of wealth and status, as well as being a place to protect people, livestock and crops against the weather. and other functions in addition, communication towers and more. In other countries in the neighbourhood people did good to, didn't had these strutures, but had good knowledge of summer solstice and similar anyway. Possible were easier ways to get astronomical info than building these massive structures. But one never know all purposes, it's an open question.
How tall is that tower !??
I have worked out over the last 22 years what this building is if you want to find out.
Hmm, nope this isn't "Scotland". It's Shetland.
According to Historical Monuments Scotland there are 600 Brochs across Scotland.
The distribution of the brochs is centred on Northern Scotland. Caithness, Sutherland and the Northern Isles have the densest concentrations but there are many examples in the west of Scotland and the Hebrides. Brochs have been built as far south as the Scottish borders near Dun's.
@@martindornan1667 There is no such thing as the "Northern Isles". I live in Shetland, or to use our original name Hjaltland. There's a fjord north of, and that leads into Bergen called Hjeltefjorden and it means/was "the fjord to Hjaltland". My first ancestor is a man from the island of Unst called Hendrich Hendrichsson and we have the written family tree to prove it.
@@Trollberg60north - What are you some sort of Shetland nationalist? Are you going to start blowing things up like ETA? Liberation for Hjaltland! The only problem is that no one will know what or where the hell you are talking about. What are you going to do for a military? An elite sheep regiment?
Shetland is part of Scotland. No one cares about your family tree. You are Scottish. Trust me when your Island gets hit by a massive climate change storm you will come crying to us for money.
Shetland is part of Scotland. If you fancy going to war to settle this just let us know. I don't think you will last long against the Scottish military.
Could be Egyptian.