Allt Mhor

Explorer Tom Dun Troddan sits a little higher in Gleann Beag than its famous neighbour Dun Telve, as though it wanted the last word in an ancient argument about who had the better view. It is shorter now, standing about seven and a half metres high, but it preserves clues to everyday life that the taller tower cannot offer. This broch was built roughly two thousand years ago, one of a pair separated by only about five hundred metres. Its dry stone wall held galleries and passages, but the floor inside tells a more domestic story. Archaeologists found post holes that may have supported a roof or upper floor, plus a hearth with a broken quern stone built into it. Somebody ground grain here. People cooked, worked and perhaps kept animals below while living higher up. The exact arrangement is debated, but the hearth is a wonderful counterweight to the usual tale of towers and warriors. Walk around Dun Troddan and notice the wall's careful construction, then look down into the interior and picture the ordinary noise of a household. Dun Telve nearby exposes the engineering of a broch; Dun Troddan gives you a better chance to think about the people who used one. Visit both if you can, because each answers a different question and raises a new one. Historic Environment Scotland keeps the pair free and open all year. Dun Troddan requires a short moderate climb up a grassy bank from the narrow road, with only very small parking bays nearby. Wet weather can change the footing. Leave the car safely and give the two towers time. A quern stone is not grand, but it may bring you closer to a resident than any high wall does.

Explorer Tom Dun Telve rises beside the river in Gleann Beag like a stone tower that has lost a piece of its coat but kept the important stitching on show. One part of its wall still stands more than ten metres high. Better still, the broken edge lets you see how Iron Age builders made a huge hollow-walled broch stand without a drop of mortar. The tower was probably built between 2,000 and 2,500 years ago. It measures more than twenty metres across, with two rings of dry stone tied together by broad slabs. Between them are narrow galleries and a stair that once led upward through the wall. The exposed section is almost a teaching diagram in stone. A visitor can see how floors and passages fitted inside what appears from outside to be one impossibly thick wall. Only about five hundred metres away stands Dun Troddan, a close neighbour by broch standards. Why two such substantial towers stood together is still a question. One may have been built after the other or served a different household; the surviving stones cannot settle every argument. Dun Telve's height, however, makes the builders' ambition impossible to miss. Imagine lifting all those blocks without a crane, then explaining to the neighbours that the tower needed another storey. Both brochs are free and open year-round. Dun Telve is the easier of the pair to reach, with a mostly level gravel approach from the small roadside parking area. The road through the glen is narrow, so leave passing places clear. Walk around the standing wall before stepping inside. Its ragged opening is exactly what reveals the cleverness that held it up.