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Images

Bruan Broch is a prominent mound at the side of the A99 road near Ulbister, and just a kilometre south of the famous Whalligo Steps.

Image credit: Les Hamilton

LesHamilton Sep 21, 2020

Bruan Broch, safe behind its walled enclosure, with a handy gate for access.

Image credit: Les Hamilton

LesHamilton Sep 21, 2020

Articles

Bruan

Broch

mascot Jul 16, 2011

Royal Commission Site summary:

“A robbed broch represented by a turf-covered stony mound about 10ft high and 50ft in diameter, surrounded at a distance of about 31ft, by a wall about 4 1/2ft high which stands on the inner lip of a ditch about 28ft broad and 3 1/2ft deep from the top of the counterscarp. Except on the W, the ditch has been almost destroyed by cultivation. ”

Bruan

Broch

drewbhoy Feb 5, 2024

In the parish of Latheron are the remains of a broch known as the fairy mound of Bruan. In 1937, the Reverend George Sutherland related that two men once passed the broch carrying a small keg of whisky for New Year celebrations. A door in the broch was open, and inside fairies were dancing to bagpipe music. One of the men wanted to join the dance and went in, but the other was more cautious and waited outside. A long time passed and the waiting man called to the other, who replied,

‘I have not got a dance yet.‘

After another while the man outside took his whisky and went on his way, expecting that his friend would be home by morning, but the next day he had still not returned, and the broch was closed, with no sign of a door, and no trace of the fairies. The man did not give up hope of his friend, however:

It was an old belief that in such a case the same scene would be enacted in the same place a year after, accordingly on the anniversary of that day he went to the Bruan Broch. It was open, the music and dancing were going on as before, and his friend was there. He put some iron article in the door to prevent the fairies from closing it, as they are powerless in the presence of iron or steel. He went to the open door and said to his friend, ‘Are you not coming home now?’ His friend replied, ‘I have not got a dance yet.‘

The man outside told his friend that he had been a year in the broch, and that it was surely time for him to come home now, but his friend did not believe that he had been more than an hour inside.

The man then made a rush at his friend, seized him, and dragged him out by sheer force, and they set out for home together. It was difficult for him to realise that his sojourn with the fairies was such a prolonged one, but the fact that his own child did not recognise him, together with other changes that had taken place, convinced him.

The man who wanted to dance was lucky to have a loyal friend – some who enter a fairy mound never come out again. This is one of many similar told throughout Britain of the supernatural lapse of time in fairyland.

Caithness has numerous antiquities traditionally said to be fairy dwellings, among them a horned cairn known as the Fairies’ Mound, or Cnoc Na H-uiseig

The Lore Of Scotland – A Guide To Scottish Legends

Westwood & Kingshill