Alternative Names Doune Carloway; Dun Carloway Broch; Charlabhaigh
Site type BROCH (IRON AGE)
Canmore ID 4121
Site Number NB14SE 1
NGR NB 19002 41230
Council WESTERN ISLES
Parish UIG
Former Region WESTERN ISLES ISLANDS AREA
Former District WESTERN ISLES
Former County ROSS AND CROMARTY

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Doune Carloway (Dun Charlabhagh), first millennium bc Broch with two concentric drystone walls, after Mousa in Shetland one of the best preserved examples of its type. It was built in the same manner as the Glenelg brochs, although here there is an oval guard chamber on the south side of the entrance, and close examination of the masonry suggests that the internal skin dates from at least four different periods. The south side, furling up from a brackeny knoll, stands almost intact to the original height of 9 m; people alive in the 1830s remembered seeing it in a near-complete state, roofed over with a large flat stone.
Doune Broch Centre, Michael Leybourne for Western Isles Council Technical Services Consultancy, 1997. Pleasingly contextual visitors¿ centre, fitting snugly into the hillside, its curving, turf-topped drystone walls expressing the robustness of the broch.


Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk

Archaeological Notes

NB14SE 1 19002 41230

(NB 1899 4122) Dun Carloway: Broch (NR)
OS 6" map, (1965)

A broch, which, though broken and incomplete, is one of the best preserved in the Western Isles, part of the old walling on the east still attaining a height of about 30'. It has an average external diameter of 47', the walls varying from 10 to 12' overall. Repairs have been carried out on the upper parts of the east wall where it is single, the inner wall having disappeared.
Finds from the broch are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS).
RCAHMS 1928; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1909; (Broch visible on St Joseph air photograph RD3, 9)

Dun Carloway, a broch, as described and planned.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (R L) 25 June 1969.

Notes and Activities

Armit and Ralston, I and I B M (2003) 'The Iron Age', in Edwards, K J and Ralston, I B M Scotland after the Ice Age: environment, archaeology and history 8000BC - AD 1000 Edinburgh
Page(s): 184

Armit, I (1996) The archaeology of Skye and the Western Isles, Edinburgh
Page(s): 15, 109-12, 120, 122, 125-7, 193, 218 Held at RCAHMS E.2.1.ARM

Armit, I (1998i) Scotland's hidden history, Stroud, Gloucestershire
Page(s): 96-7 Fig 56 Held at RCAHMS E.2.1.ARM