The Broch of Culswick (also Culswick Broch) is an unexcavated coastal

broch A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Their origin is a matter of some controversy. Origin ...

in the

Shetland Islands Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

of Scotland (). It has good views all around, including

Foula Foula (; sco, also Foola; nrn, Fuglø), located in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland, is one of the United Kingdom’s most remote permanently inhabited islands. Owned since the turn of the 20th century by the Holbourn family, the island wa ...

and

Vaila Vaila (Old Norse: "Valey") is an island in Shetland, Scotland, lying south of the Westland peninsula of the Shetland Mainland. It has an area of , and is at its highest point.Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canong ...

isles, and Fitful Head and

Fair Isle Fair Isle (; sco, Fair Isle; non, Friðarey; gd, Fara) is an island in Shetland, in northern Scotland. It lies about halfway between mainland Shetland and Orkney. It is known for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting. Th ...

in the south. The broch stands on the top of a rock platform and is about 3 metres high at its tallest point. Much rubble has fallen into the centre. This broch has a massive triangular lintel stone over the entrance, which is partly filled with rubble. Drawings by Low in 1774 and Skene in 1805 reveal that the structure survived very well up to those dates.

Location

The Broch of Culswick is located a kilometre west of

Culswick The Broch of Culswick (also Culswick Broch) is an unexcavated coastal broch in the Shetland Islands of Scotland (). It has good views all around, including Foula and Vaila isles, and Fitful Head and Fair Isle in the south. The broch stands ...

in the parish of

Sandsting Sandsting is a parish in the West Mainland of Shetland, Scotland, forming a southern arm of the Walls Peninsula. After the parish of Aithsting was annexed into Sandsting in the sixteenth century, it became known as Sandsting and Aithsting pari ...

. It is on top of a steep, smooth knoll near cliffs and the sea.

Description

The Broch of Culswick has an external diameter of around 16 metres with walls preserved up to a height of 3.5 metres. The main entrance is clearly visible but debris nearly fills the passage. The lintel is a massive triangular stone. A "guard cell" was visible to the right of the main entrance. The interior of the broch is full of debris. The inside face of an upper gallery can be seen above the entrance, and another void or doorway is visible in the inner wall face. Culswick Broch was better preserved in 1774 when George Low's drawing shows three complete intra-mural galleries preserved on top of the buried lower storey as well as a scarcement ledge on the inside face.

References

External links

* {{Prehistoric Shetland

Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Shetland Mainland, Shetland