A charity has just been granted planning permission to build a replica of one of the most fascinating ancient structures in Britain – the broch.
The Caitness Broch Project was given the green light by Highland Council earlier this week but the project still needs to secure funding before it can go ahead. If you’ve never come across a broch before, let us fill you in.
Brochs are tall, circular, double walled drystone towers from 2,000 years ago. They’ve only ever been found in Scotland and are the tallest prehistoric buildings in Britain. Anywhere from 100 to 500 broch sites have been identified over the decades, across the Highlands, Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland.
Only remnants of the structures remain, but historians think that in their heyday, brochs had a single small entrance, a central courtyard, internal staircases and a conical roof. Early archeologists reckoned that they were built for defence purposes, but nowadays, research suggests they were built to show off and were probably home to tribal chiefs or important farmers.
So, back to the Caithness Broch Project. The ‘faithful replica’ has been proposed for a plot of land near the villlage of Latheron. You may be wondering what use we have for a broch in 2025. But this won’t be somewhere for council leaders to hang out – planners hope that it’ll become a major educational tourist attraction.
It’ll will be constructed using historically accurate techniques and, since the last people to build one died centuries ago, it will take several years. So, Caithness Broch Project want to build the broch in stages to ‘allow visitors to see the unique way in which the broch will be constructed’. It intends to install a viewing platform where visitors can stand to watch the work progress.
Dawn Mackay, a directors on the project, told the BBC: ‘It's really exciting and it has taken a long time to get to this point.
‘The charity was formed 13 years ago - it hasn't taken that long to get planning permission - but it has taken a long time to find the site.’
Craig Simm, the council’s planning officer said: ‘The development will support the local economy by creating employment opportunities during the construction phase and through the ongoing operation and management of the broch as a tourism and cultural attraction.
‘[It will] contribute to diversifying the local economy in Caithness, an area identified as economically fragile, by strengthening the tourism sector and enhancing the visitor offering in the region.’
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