The circular court, which was formed inside, varied
from 20 to 36 feet in diameter, and was not roofed over; and the
galleries and stairs were lighted only by slits, all looking into the
court, in which, being without a roof, fires could be lit. In some few
there were wells, but water-supply, save when the broch was in a loch,
must have been a difficulty in most cases during a prolonged siege.
In these brochs the farmer lived, and his women-kind span and wove and
plied their querns or hand-mills, and, in raids, they shut themselves
up, and possibly some of their poorer neighbours took refuge in the
brochs, deserting their huts and crowding into the broch; but of this
practice there is no evidence, and the nearest hut-circles are often
far from the remains of any broch.
For defence the broch was as nearly as possible perfect against any
engines or weapons then available for attacking it; and we may note
that it existed in Scotland and mainly in the north and west of it,
and nowhere else in the world.[8] It was a roofless block-house, aptly
described by Dr. Joseph Anderson as a "safe." It could not be battered
down or set on fire, and if an enemy got inside it, he would find
himself in a sort of trap surrounded by the defenders of the broch,
and a mark for their missiles.
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