Broch

sculptor

sculptor

Valued Senior Member
Northern Scotland brochs
They do not seem to have had much defensive value
The double wall in intriguing
I suspect that the design was for comfort
Having a double wall would allow for the interior of the inner wall to be warmer than the outer wall
A buffer from the cold seems to be the most likely reason for the evolution of the design.

Your thoughts?
 
sculptor said:
Northern Scotland brochs
They do not seem to have had much defensive value
The double wall in intriguing
I suspect that the design was for comfort
Having a double wall would allow for the interior of the inner wall to be warmer than the outer wall
A buffer from the cold seems to be the most likely reason for the evolution of the design.

Your thoughts?
Click to expand...
I have no idea. I visited the brochs of Glenelg once, but their purpose seems rather unclear. I gather they are unique to Scotland.
 
mousa_broch_wikimedia1n.jpg
broch-450.jpg


Broch = stone tower with up to 50 feet interior diameter up to 50 feet tall made with dry stone(no mortar) construction with a double outside wall, often over 10 feet thick.
It seems most likely that they had up to 3 interior floors(4?) made of timber construction.

a double wall can be more stable than a single wall

they may have had a timber and thatch roof

Many think that these were either made by the Picts, or the ancestors of the Picts.

It remains unclear whether these were individual family dwellings, winter refuges, or much as the long houses mentioned in BeoWulf.
 
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sculptor said:
Your thoughts?
Click to expand...
According to various histories I half remember, they were constructed before the chimney was invented (a surprisingly late development, iirc). That may suggest explanations, re comfort/defense calculations.
 
cooling tower---yeh it does look similar........

Back to the op question
Please do not feel intimidated if you are unschooled in architecture
(I was just asking for gut-logical guesses.)

Background:
A few years ago, while reading about Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, I came across Brunelleschi's use of double wall construction for his dome of Santa Maria del Fiore.
He did the double masonry wall tied together for strength and lightness.

And here:

We have Scottish/Pictish brochs with double masonry(dry stacked stones) well tied together over 1800 years before Brunelleschi.

More background:
The only times I have read about current double wall structures the reason was for insulation( two 3 1/2 inch walls with R11 insulation separated by an airspace gives you more insulation value than one 7 inch wall with R22 insulation.

So My question
Did these Northern Scots or Picts use a tied together double wall for strength so that they could stack these stones up to 50 feet high?

Or did they do this for the extra insulation value?

Or ..........................................?

................................
or, learning by doing----how many pyramids do you have to build wrong before you build one correctly?

...............................
So guys
feel free to guess
 
River Ape said:
The double walls enclose a staircase to give access to upper floors. A staircase can be climbed with greater safety when there is a wall on either side of you.
Click to expand...
A good idea for a staircase, and no doubt employed, but the gaps in some - such as the particular photos - look narrow for that; especially toward the upper reaches, where safety would be of most concern. Granted those people were perhaps smaller then - but it looks like there have to be other reasons for some of these structures, in the first place.

(nb: close confinement by a side wall does not improve safety - railings and handholds and landings and pitch settings do that, and a wall too close can interfere with their installation and effectiveness. People usually get hurt falling down or up the stairs, not over the rails, and maneuvering in a tight space without elbowroom makes that more likely. Structural support - stairs need a lot - seems a likelier benefit? )
 
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sculptor said:
mousa_broch_wikimedia1n.jpg
broch-450.jpg


Broch = stone tower with up to 50 feet interior diameter up to 50 feet tall made with dry stone(no mortar) construction with a double outside wall, often over 10 feet thick.
It seems most likely that they had up to 3 interior floors(4?) made of timber construction.

a double wall can be more stable than a single wall

they may have had a timber and thatch roof

Many think that these were either made by the Picts, or the ancestors of the Picts.

It remains unclear whether these were individual family dwellings, winter refuges, or much as the long houses mentioned in BeoWulf.
Click to expand...

i am guessing they would have had battering rams back then.
additionaly they would have seen heavy mounted soldiers ride right through thatch houses and burn them to the ground etc.
cant be busted open with a horse
cant be burnt to the ground
cant get hit by arrows or spears
only 1 door in which would be through the point of a spear so whom ever comes in is garenteed not to live through it.
elevation allowing an archer to go on the roof and pic off anyone attempting to lay in wait by the door, and a ready supply of large rocks to drop on their head to kill them should they run out of arrows.
it would keep an even temperature which would be ideal for things like making cheese & wine & cold smoking meat.
with wooden chimneys lined with moss they could have independently heated rooms while others were kept cool.
note the lean in the upper half of the tower acting as a locking force using gravity making the internal wall at the base even stronger.
 
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