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Tag Archives: Brochs

Life in a pictish broch

19 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

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Artisans, Brochs, builders, Caithness, dry stone, Farmers, Hunters, Picts, Prehistoric, Prehistory, Scotland, Warriors

Reader, I love the brochs, and though I find them fascinating and enigmatic, they were the homes of real people. As you can imagine a lot of reading has been happening around here. I’ve been learning about the daily life of the people who lived in these structures.

Diagrams like this are found at almost every broch we visited.

Diagrams like this are found at almost every broch we visited.

We know the brochs had one or more floors that were built in timber on the shelf like scarcements and accessed via the steps built between the double skinned walls.

Some were built on the coast and had other stone buildings constructed close around the base with palisades and ditches built to further protect the inhabitants.

Animals could have been brought into the ground floor for safety and or warmth in times of war or bad weather. The upper floors would have been for living and storage. These iron age castles were well able to withstand whatever the neighbouring clans or tribes might throw at them, not to mention the harsh winds and wild storms blowing in from the North Sea. Well it’s the North Sea in my stories.

With little wood to be found in the immediate area, the waft of peat smoke billowing through the cone shaped timber and thatched roof would have been commonplace. Smoke from peat fires isn’t something we come across here in Australia, so I felt incredibly blessed when a friend offered to light their peat fire for me when we visited Caithness. I even bought some Peatscense to burn and help me remember now I’m home again. Peat is a commodity that takes plenty of muscle to harvest (dig), but peat bogs are readily available in the flow country of Caithness and Sutherland in the far north of Scotland.

Which brings us to what the Picts would have eaten. They were farmers, graziers, fishermen and hunters, so I think they would have eaten very well indeed. There have been huge middens investigated, near Newburgh in Aberdeenshire, and it seems they Picts were quite partial to shell fish if the mounds of shells are anything to go on.

Perhaps a hunting scene

Perhaps a hunting scene

They were weavers and artists in stone and beautiful silver jewellery and much has been found to show their skills and abilities. Both the jewellery and carved stones give us the understanding, to a degree of the lives they lived.

Silver work of the Picts

Silver work of the Picts

Pictish brooch

Let’s not forget the Picts were fierce warriors who had the Romans running for the hills and made them build Hadrian’s Wall to keep them safely contained in the wilds of Scotland.

Carving of warriors

Carving of warriors

I have enjoyed learning about the indigenous people of Scotland, though no one is exactly positive that the Picts were the first peoples of Scotland. I have my own theories on this, and if you want to know what they are, you’ll have to read the books. When I’ve written them.

Thanks for popping in, I hope you’ve enjoyed sharing my research and travels as I’ve been preparing and writing my story set among these wonderful and mysterious people.

More about brochs . . .

18 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

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Brochs, Christianity, defensive structure, drystone, Dun Beag, Dun Telve, Dun Troddan, Picts, Prehistory, stone tower, The problem of the Picts, writing

In my story, The Kelpie King, my protagonist Jack Perry follows a strangely dressed girl into a castle ruin and emerged to find himself in a Pictish village around the time of the introduction of Christianity.

Aberlemno, Angus.

Aberlemno, Angus.

Wow, what an undertaking reader. Sometimes, often, I wonder what on earth was I thinking when I decided to do this. But, I love the story, and love researching the Picts. There is so much to learn, but I find it absolutely fascinating. The trouble is knowing when enough is enough.

So I’ve started with iron age Scotland and the end of the Picts. We know the Picts used and re-used old fortresses.

I’ve been to Sydney to collect and read a book called “The problem of the Picts” edited by TF Wainwright. Photocopied “Picts” by Anna Ritchie.

My research into the Picts and their lives had to begin with where and how they lived, hence the brochs.

Interior of Dun Troddan

Interior of Dun Troddan

Imagine sailing into a wide bay and seeing a huge dark stone round tower on a cliff top. The structure stands about ten metre high and almost as wide. What would this say to those approaching the land.

To me it would say they were strong, intelligent and protected. Powerful and astute.

Dun Troddan

Dun Troddan

Drystone buildings of this size are something to behold, the precision of the stones, the smooth sloping circular walls that were built side by side to form a double skinned structure with stairways spiralling up between the  two walls are a sight to behold. I stood inside those walls and imagined. I climbed to the top. This reader, is something worthy of  note as I am very very afraid of heights. I am known to not even stand on a chair! Dave took photos of me on the top of Dun Beag on Skye because he could not believe I would ignore my fears and climb to examine every angle and detail I could on these magnificent structures.

Entrance

Entrance

The broch has a small entrance with quite a long low tunnel to duck through, one one side there is usually a small chamber, known as a guard chamber. The tunnel opens up into a wide open floor that usually had a hearth in the centre and often a well of some kind too. The inhabitants could stay safely inside for extended periods in both times of bad weather or attack. An opening on the far side would lead to another chamber built into the wall and a stone staircase curving up inside the wall. The stone steps had the dual role of tying the inner and outer walls together.

Guards chamber

Guards chamber

 

Cross section of the inner and outer walls

Cross section of the inner and outer walls

2014-09-24 18.20.11

Steps and upper floor of the chamber between the walls

Examining just a few of the brochs at close quarters was something I’m not likely to ever forget, and I can’t wait to begin writing about Jack and his take on prehistoric life.

 

Are you interested in history? Have you ever, like me, found yourself caught up in imagining what it would be like to have lived in a different era? Please share, I like to know I’m not alone.

What is a “broch” anyway?

23 Thursday Oct 2014

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

ancient buildings, Brochs, Castles, dark ages, historic accuracy, holidays, Prehistory, research, Scotland, writing

Reader, I’ve been researching prehistory and early history in Scotland in an attempt to make sure my story is as historically accurate as possible when one is writing a story set in the Dark Ages. Dark as in there is little known, so therefore the era is shrouded in mystery and made up stuff.

 

The journey that began almost ten years ago when I wanted to write a story set in a castle because I loved the TV series “Monarch of the Glen”. This interest set me on a path that has been exciting and frustrating in equal parts.

Ardverikie Estate was used as the setting for Glenbogle in Monarch of the Glen

Ardverikie Estate was used as the setting for Glenbogle in Monarch of the Glen

As you know, I recently attended a writing retreat/course in the Cotswolds with Kate Forsyth and as we shared our current WIP with the group I was distinctly uncomfortable when I had to admit that my story was set in a parallel world because I wanted to mash three historic periods together. My bad! And it wasn’t overlooked by our esteemed tutor. Kate pulled me up short and reminded me that most people don’t learn their history via non-fiction, but rather through fiction, and so we, as authors were obligated to “get it right”. Sigh.

I knew she was right, and if I’m honest with myself, I’d known it all along, hence my inability to get the story finished.

So now, I am on mission to write not one, but three linked stories that will cover the three separate time periods that I was attempting to combine. And you know what reader? It’s ok, because I’ve researched all three periods anyway. So now I am in the process of pulling all the relevant bits out of the first draft and rewriting the first book in the way it should have been done in the first place. Because we all know that there are no short cuts or free lunches.

Which leads me to tell you about brochs.

Brochs. What is a broch I hear you say? Well it’s a very early Scottish version of a castle.
Wikipedia says this:
“A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure of a type found only in Scotland. Brochs include some of the most sophisticated examples of drystone architecture ever created.”

A broch was a status symbol, a defensive structure and a home. And in my story it is all three.

While we were in Scotland, Dave and I went broch hunting and had heaps of fun scrambling all over every one we located. I’ve climbed over the ruins of one in Carn Liath Broch near Golspie; walked for miles through fields to find one at Dunbeath; drove all over Skye to find one of the many there; drove through the twilight to find the two at Glenelg. Visiting Dun Telve and Dun Troddan just on dark was beautiful, atmospheric  and more than a little bit special.

Carn Liath, Golspie. Outside the remains of a my first broch.

Carn Liath, Golspie. Outside the remains of a my first broch.

Dun Beag Broch, Isle of Skye.

Dun Beag Broch, Isle of Skye.

Dun Telve Broch, Glenelg Dave standing inside for scale

Dun Telve Broch, Glenelg
Dave standing inside for scale

Dun Troddan Broch, Glenelg

Dun Troddan Broch, Glenelg

We visited more, but I can’t find the photos 😦 I find these wonderful examples of prehistoric architecture fascinating and have lots more to share, but I’ll have to save something for next time. So, stay tuned.

Does prehistory fascinate you? Do you ever wonder what it would have been like to live in a place like these? Have you visited any of these or like these? Or even would like to one day? Please share, as I’d love to know. I might even have to pick your brain for details, it’s all research after all.

 

Paula Beavan Author

Paula Beavan Author

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