Checking Dalchork broch on google earth, it appears to have extensive surrounding earthworks, confirming my assumption that it was a military garrison. Why else would the Scots have built such a large stone defensive fort on top a hill, in clear view of other brochs in the area? I’m beginning to surmise that brochs were perhaps only used during times of seige. But who would the Scots have needed defences against?
Practically all brochs were built during the 1st Centuries BC and AD, a period of 200 years, coinciding with the Roman invasion of Britain. That the Romans attempted to conquer Scotland at least 4 times and failed, could be directly attributed to the superb defensive qualities of brochs against swords, bows, and spears. Marauding Roman legions, after all, would hardly have been hauling seige engines up remote Scottish glens.
If you’re looking for war memorials, here they are, only brochs don’t commemorate dead people, they stand as timeless monuments to the spirit that is Scotland.
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