Brochs are massive, circular, prehistoric fortified dwellings some 2,500 years old. They have been built using a drystane construction method with walls typically 12 feet thick and an inside floor space of around 30 feet in diameter.

These round-houses were built and occupied from around 800BC until the second century AD. This is the earlier part of the Scottish Iron Age when defensive hill forts were being constructed in prominent and strategic positions in the landscape across the British Isles.

Dun Carloway Broch is one of the best preserved brochs in Scotland, with its highest section of wall jutting into the Hebridean skyline.

One of the great things about this broch is its close proximity to both sites of the remarkable Callanish standing stones, (there are two), which are definitely worth exploring as they are indeed stunning as they are mysterious.

Access to this Broch is very easy as there is a car park provided with just a short walk up to the Broch itself.

To enter the broch you must stoop low under a large lintel stone through a tiny gate. Inside you will find the usual classic broch features that includes a guard chamber on the right and internal staircase to higher floors of the Broch now long since lost to the elements. The views are also quite fab looking out to the shoreline and mountains beyond.

1600's ~ Cattle rustling Morrison's of Ness take refuge in the broch, but one of the MacAuley's of Uig manages to climb the tower and suffocate the sleeping Morrison's by dropping smouldering heather into the broch, forcing them to flee.