By Bernie Bell
Pics by B&M Bell
The roof was the most complicated bit to put together – but now the Broch of Gorseness is complete!
We could call it …’Dun Brochin’ – Geddit?
In the summer it’ll disappear into the long grass, Black knapweed and Campion, but through the colder months we’ll look out and see – a mini-broch by our pond……


I wonder what might live in it? I can imagine rodents – mice, maybe Orkney Voles, burrowing under the side and coming up to find a nice sheltered dry place to be – out of the wind and the rain. Rodent souterrains?
Probably not rats – it’s not a rat kind of place.
We used to have a lot of Orkney Voles in our meadow….until the Stoats arrived….but that’s another matter – the Broch of Gorseness was started to celebrate Brochtoberfest – not Stoatfest!
Though – it could become a Vole Resistance Centre in the fight against the invading Stoats/Vikings!
What next? A mini-crannog on the pond?
Brochtoberfest talks are still available on-line……..
And Matt Richie did an on-line Zoom talk called……’To Build A Broch’……. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xILiPLQpc-c
I like his mock-up of an I Spy book about Brochs – you never know – it might happen!

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