[72]. Archæologia Scotica, vol. v. pp. 178-197.
[73]. The Nuraghi of Sardinia are round towers built of uncemented stones. They are exceedingly numerous in the island, and it has been occasionally asserted that they bear a remarkable resemblance to the Scottish Brochs. It is true that they are like the Brochs externally, because they are round towers, (see Fig. [176]), but they possess none of the characteristic features of the typical Broch structure. They contain vaulted and windowless chambers placed vertically above each other in the centre of the tower. The access to these chambers is by a winding stair, which traverses the thickness of the wall completely round the central chambers. Sometimes they have a more complex structure, consisting of a central tower rising from a square basement, with chambers also in the basement, as shown in the accompanying section (Fig. 179). It is thus apparent that the typical Nuraghe differs completely in idea from the typical Broch. Although the external form may be in some cases similar, the essential features of the Broch are not found in any one instance in the Sardinian Nuraghi. No Broch has vaulted chambers disposed vertically over each other in the centre of the tower, and no Nuraghe has its centre open, and its chambers, stairs, and galleries arranged in the ring of walling surrounding the central court and windows looking into it as the Brochs have.
Fig. 176.—Nuraghe of Goni, in Sardinia.
Fig. 177.—Section of Nuraghe, showing form of chambers and spiral stair.
(From Tyndale’s Sardinia.)
[74]. That this object was practically attained by these simple means we have evidence in one case from the direct testimony of record. It is related in the Orkneyinga Saga, that Erlend, who (about A.D. 1155) carried off the widow of Maddad, Earl of Athol, took her north to Shetland, and took up his residence in Moseyarborg—the Broch of Mousa, described at the commencement of this Lecture. It is said that her son Harald, Earl of Orkney, pursued Erlend, and besieged him in the Borg, “but it was difficult to take it by assault,” and the siege failed because “Erlend had made great preparations.” This is the only record of the actual use of a Broch as a place of defence, and it bears out the inference drawn from an examination of the nature and arrangements of the structure, that it was difficult to take by assault, and equally difficult to reduce by siege, if the defenders were provided with supplies. It is also stated in the Saga of Egil Skalagrimson, that about two centuries and a half before this time (or somewhere about A.D. 900), Bjorn Brynjulfson, fleeing from Norway with Thora, Roald’s daughter, because her father would not consent to their marriage, was shipwrecked on the island of Mousa, landed his cargo and lived in the Borg during the winter, celebrating his marriage in it, and afterwards sailed for Iceland.—The Orkneyinga Saga (Edinburgh, 1873), p. cxi. and chap. 92.
[75]. Having mislaid my measurements of the doorways of Caithness Brochs, I am unable to give examples from that county. But I am favoured, by the Rev. Dr. J. M. Joass of Golspie, with the following measurements of the doorways of Sutherlandshire Brochs:—
| Height of Doorway. | Breadth of Doorway. | |||||||||
| Above. | Below. | |||||||||
| Ft. | In. | Ft. | In. | Ft. | In. | |||||
| Broch of Carnliath— | ||||||||||
| Door in Outworks | 5 | 9 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 9 | ||||
| Door in Broch Wall— | ||||||||||
| Outer Opening | 6 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 9 | ||||
| In middle of Passage | 6 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 0 | ||||
| Inner Opening | 6 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 | ||||
| Broch of Kintrolla— | ||||||||||
| Door in Broch Wall— | ||||||||||
| Outer Opening | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | ||||
| In middle of Passage | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 8 | ||||
| Inner Opening | 4 | 11 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 9 | ||||
| Broch of Backies— | ||||||||||
| Door in Broch Wall— | ||||||||||
| (2 feet of rubbish in passage, | ||||||||||
| height above that 4 feet.) | ||||||||||
| Outer Opening | 2 | 11 | 3 | 3 | ||||||
| In middle of Passage | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||||||
| Inner Opening | 2 | 9 | 3 | 8 | ||||||
I learn from Mr. W. G. T. Watt that the doorway of the Broch of Burwick, near Stromness, in Orkney, which is 5 feet 2 inches in height, measures 3 feet 1 inch in width at the top, and 3 feet 5 inches at the bottom. From these examples and the measurements of the doorways of Shetland brochs by Sir Henry Dryden, it may be held as demonstrated that the characteristic feature of inclined instead of perpendicular door-jambs, which was constant in the constructions of the early Christian time, was also characteristic of the Brochs.