Broch of Mousa (or Mousa Broch) is a preserved

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

broch In archaeology, a broch is an British Iron Age, Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Brochs are round ...

or round tower. It is on the island of

Mousa Mousa ( "moss island") is a small island in Shetland, Scotland, uninhabited since the nineteenth century. The island is known for the Broch of Mousa, an Iron Age Broch, round tower, and is designated as a Special Protection Area for storm-petr ...

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It is the tallest

still standing and amongst the best-preserved

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

buildings in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. It is thought to have been constructed , and is one of more than 500 brochs built in Scotland. The site is managed by

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) () is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the merger of government agency Historic Sc ...

as a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

Location

The broch is located on the western shore of the island of

(, 9.99523,-1.18191. It is accessible by boat from Sandwick, Shetland, south of

Lerwick Lerwick ( or ; ; ) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. It is the northernmost major settlement within the United Kingdom. Centred ...

. It stands on the flat rock surface of a low promontory near the shore overlooking Mousa Sound. It is the tallest broch still standing and amongst the best-preserved

buildings in

Description

Mousa Broch has one of the smallest overall diameters of any broch, as well as one of the thickest wall bases and smallest interiors; this massive construction (as well as its remote location) is likely to be the main explanation for its excellent state of preservation. It stands high and is accessible via a single entrance at ground level. Once inside, a visitor may ascend an internal staircase to the top. It is the only broch which is complete nearly to the top, including the original intramural stair. It is built of

dry stone Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. A certain amount of binding is obtained through the use of carefully ...

with no mortar. The entrance is on the west side but has been altered at various times from its original appearance. The entrance passage is long and still has an original bar-hole. Mousa Broch 20080821 03

Inside a hearth and floor tank can be seen in the central space. There is a low stone bench around the base of the inside wall, which was part of an early alteration to the interior. The broch went through at least two phases of occupation. In its original condition it may or may not have contained a wooden roundhouse resting on the scarcement ledges and presumably on a ring of posts set into the primary floor. (It has recently been argued that the scarcements may have supported scaffolding in a roofless building.) At a later date, if the wooden building existed, it was demolished to make way for a small wheelhouse (with three projecting stone piers) in the interior. Scarcement ledges at heights of might have supported the putative timber building. The other main feature of the ground floor is the three large cells within the walls. They are entered via thresholds which are above the floor level. Above the lintel of each cell door are further openings which seem designed to let light and air into the chamber behind. The cells all have recesses, or large cupboards, set into the thickness of the wall. Above the solid base of the broch are six galleries. They are formed by the space between the two concentric walls of the upper part of the broch, and are partly lit by voids. It is possible to walk along most of the galleries. They were probably used by the builders as an aid to constructing the building, rather than for accommodation or storage. The stair, which begins at the second level, is reached by a doorway in the inner wall face, which has an adjacent cell. There is also an upper cell above the entrance passage.

Later history

Mousa Broch continued to be used over the centuries and is mentioned in two Norse

Saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

Egil's Saga ''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the years c. 850–1000 a ...

tells of a couple eloping from Norway to Iceland who were shipwrecked and used the broch as a temporary refuge. The

Orkneyinga Saga The ''Orkneyinga saga'' (Old Norse: ; ; also called the ''History of the Earls of Orkney'' and ''Jarls' Saga'') is a narrative of the history of the Orkney and Shetland islands and their relationship with other local polities, particularly No ...

gives an account of a siege of the broch by Earl

Harald Maddadsson Harald Maddadsson (Old Norse: ''Haraldr Maddaðarson'', Gaelic: ''Aralt mac Mataid'') (c. 1134 – 1206) was Earl of Orkney and Mormaer of Caithness from 1139 until 1206. He was the son of Matad, Mormaer of Atholl, and Margaret, daughter ...

in 1153 following the abduction of his mother, who was held inside the broch. The site was visited by the antiquarian George Low during his tour of 1774, and he provided the first drawings of the broch. It was visited by

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

in 1814, who described it as "a Pictish fortress, the most entire probably in the world." The geologist and antiquarian Samuel Hibbert visited it in 1818 and provided a detailed account of the site. The first accurate survey was conducted by Sir Henry Dryden in 1852 and 1866.

Excavations

Mousa was cleared of debris and repaired in 1861 and great quantities of animal bones, especially of otters (which probably inhabited the deserted ruin) were found. Also found were pieces of a clay pot, stone pot lids, a slaty stone about 12 inches long "like a three-cornered file" and a "carved model of a Norway boat in fir" about long. The interior was cleared again by the

Office of Works The Office of Works was an organisation responsible for structures and exterior spaces, first established as part of the English royal household in 1378 to oversee the building and maintenance of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it be ...

in 1919, and few additional finds emerged. In the

National Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a museum of Scottish history and culture. It was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, ...

in Edinburgh are some pottery sherds, including a large black-burnished rim sherd, probably found during the 19th century clearance. There was major rebuilding of the broch from 1967 until the 1980s. In January 2005 it was announced that archaeologists had used 3D

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

scanning to investigate the structure in detail for further possible repairs.

Storm petrels

Mousa Broch is well known among

birders Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device such as binoculars or a telescope, ...

for its breeding

European storm petrel The European storm petrel (''Hydrobates pelagicus''), also known as British storm petrel, or just storm petrel, is a species of seabird in the northern storm petrel family, Hydrobatidae. The small, square-tailed bird is entirely black except f ...

s, which are best seen after dark on partly or on completely overcast summer nights. The island holds around 6,800 breeding pairs in total, representing about 8% of the British population and about 2.6% of the world population.Harrop, Hugh and David Tipling (2002) The Storm Petrels of Mousa ''

Birding World ''Birding World'' was a monthly birdwatching, birding magazine published in the United Kingdom. It was the magazine of the Bird Information Service, based at Cley next the Sea, Norfolk. With the publication of issue No. 26/12 in January 2014, ''Bi ...

'' 15(8):332-333 Some of these birds nest in burrows within the broch itself.

References

External links

D. Thomas 2011 'An Investigation of Aural Space inside Mousa Broch by Observation and Analysis of Sound and Light', Internet Archaeology 30.

Mousa Broch
at Historic Scotland.
Mousa Broch, Shetland
structure at

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{{Prehistoric Shetland

Historic Environment Scotland properties in Shetland Scheduled monuments in Shetland Buildings and structures completed in the 1st century BC