Clickimin Broch

Archaeological place

What is recorded here

On the shore of Clickimin Loch is an outstanding example of a broch, a sophisticated type of stone-built round house found only in Scotland. Clickimin Broch has evidence of settlement spanning over a thousand years.

Read the whole record

Clickimin Broch in Lerwick is a restored round stone tower within a larger walled site, reached originally across water by a stone causeway. Houses, defences and later rebuilding show long use of the small island. Its excavated objects also reveal domestic work, gaming and contact beyond Shetland.

Who made it and when

People occupied this spot through several parts of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Excavator John Hamilton proposed a sequence beginning with a farm in the seventh or sixth century before the common era and ending with a round wheelhouse centuries later. Later workers have challenged his exact order and think some walls may be the same age.

How it was made and used

The broch was a thick-walled round stone tower about 20 metres across, with rooms and passages inside its walls. It stood within a stone ring, behind a separate blockhouse at the entrance, and was approached by a stone causeway. Post holes inside show that timber structures helped form the occupied space within the tower.

What was found

Excavation uncovered stone lamps and sharpening stones, objects made from bone and whale bone, a gaming die, several bronze pieces and two pieces of Roman glass. These are small but useful traces of lighting, tool care, craft or household work, play, and goods that had travelled to Shetland from the Roman world.

What remains

The tower, entrance passage, rooms within the wall, stair and high-level passages can still be seen, together with the outer enclosure and blockhouse. Visitors should remember that this is not untouched Iron Age stonework: after damage and decay, the Office of Works rebuilt parts of the site between 1908 and 1910.

Why it mattered

Clickimin mattered because one small defended place was repeatedly adapted for farming, protection and home life. The unusual blockhouse and the layered buildings make it especially useful for asking how Shetland communities organised their settlements. Debate over the excavator's sequence is itself important, because the ruins do not support one simple, certain story.