Dun Beag Broch

Dun Beag is one of the best-preserved Iron Age brochs on the Isle of Skye, perched on a rocky outcrop near Struan overlooking Loch Bracadale. Built in the last centuries BC, the drystone tower has an interior diameter of approximately 11 metres with walls 4.3 metres thick, and originally stood over 10 metres tall. The structure features a narrow entrance with door-checks for a timber door, possible guard cells, and an impressive stone staircase of which 20 steps survive within the hollow walls. Excavated from 1914 to 1920 by Countess Vincent Baillet de Latour, finds included medieval and later coins, indicating intermittent use well beyond the Iron Age. Scholars now believe brochs were built primarily as status symbols reflecting the prestige of their inhabitants.