Carloway Broch… Click for Full Sized Pictures!
This old stone structure is called a 'Broch' which is a roundhouse tower, what it was used for nobody knows for certain possibly a stronghold for defense (most brochs are on hilltops or inside lochs surrounded by water) for a chief family. This broch dates back to approx 2000 years old, is about 9 meters high and 15 meters diameter approx, and is the best preserved example of a Broch on the island. It is believed it would have had a thatched roof made of wood and straw and grass, and inside there are recesses in the stones walls maybe as sleeping areas or for keeping animals. It maybe that the animals were kept on the ground floor while the inhabitants were on the next floor up. The door entrance is very small, the walls have two skins, and between the walls there is a stairway in the middle spiraling up and down.
This is an extract that relates to this broch taken from Wikipdedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaulay_family_of_Lewis
One notable Macaulay and Morrison tradition is of a raid conducted by the Morrisons of Ness into Macaulay territory. When the Morrisons drove off cattle belonging to the Macaulays, Dòmhnall Cam, Big Smith and a force of Macaulays pursued the Morrisons into the night, across Loch Roag and finally to Dun Carloway. After killing the sentry, and with his men blocking any exit, Dòmhnall Cam scaled the walls of the broch, aided by two dirks which he slipped between crevices in the stone wall. Once atop the tower Dòmhnall Cam ordered his men to gather large bundles of heather, which he then threw down inside the broch on top of the Morrisons. Dòmhnall Cam then set the heather alight, which smothered and burned the Morrisons to death and in the process also destroyed Dun Carloway.
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