broch
1
9.9
- noun
- /brɒx/
- UK
- The walls in the surrounding village were much thinner; if attacked, the villagers would have retired into the broch.
Examples
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The broch itself was a round stone tower about twenty feet tall.
Fiction book (1991) -
broch stood proudly on the hill, its circular stone walls telling the story of Scotland's past.
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This was a world of tall broch towers in the north and communal hill forts in the south.
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He bought a guidebook and drove north, up the east coast of Mainland to the Broch of Gurness, a ruined fort and village that had been occupied from the time of Christ to the Norse era.
Fiction book (1991) -
Visitors to the Shetland Islands often explore the impressive broch, which served as a lookout point for early inhabitants.
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Archaeologists uncovered artifacts inside the broch, revealing how it was used as a dwelling during ancient times.
How Big
Surface Forms
Etymology
Broch comes from an old northern word borg (seen in place names like 'Edinburgh' and 'Pittsburgh') meaning 'fort' or 'stronghold'. So a broch is a round stone tower in Scotland used for defence or as a home.