Dun Telve 2

Dun Telve 2

The second scarcement is at around  9 m and it is suggested that this formed the basis of a support for the roof. You can see the upper scarcement from the canmore image of a model of the broch.  If this is to support a roof, then it could have been along the lines suggested by Ian Armit in his book “Towers in the North”

 

If the roof design were as Armit suggests, there doesn't seem to be much scope for there being someone up there with a beacon to signal to others in a time of strife.  If there were some kind of walkway up there, it is difficult to see how it was accessed - I doubt anyone could access the roof via the galleries as the inner edges of the walls are very jagged -, all the smooth stones are on the visible faces.  additionally, and the higher you look ,  the narrower the space - but I imagine they were all pretty slim in those days.

I suppose it is possible that access was via ladders on the inside - but then there had to be some kind of hatch or opening to get outside - certainly nothing like this visible now.

Four galleries are clearly visible within the thickness of the wall and the remains of a fifth can be seen.

Ian Armit has an interesting idea about the purpose of the galleries:

 

Dun Telve has an imposing double entrance - was this for show or for defence? 

The "guardcell" on the left of the inner entrance is quite long and the stones are rather pretty - from the outer edges of the wall - the stones would be simply the usual grey stones, but on the walls facing inwards of the guards cell, the stones are rather decorative - this must have been intentional but what was the intention?

Attractive stones in the guard cell

Around the outside of both Telve and Troddan were several small blocks of stone carved with the letters VR.  What did they mean?  I know the answer now so you'll have to read on to find out.

Dun Telve - Glenelg

Another excellent day visiting the Glenelg Brochs.  Gill bravely drove her brand new car over.  

The road to Kylerhea is always interesting….today we were slowed down by roadworks.  I am convinced the workers saw a 2016 reg and thought “tourists, make them wait!”.  Eventually we were allowed through and onto the little turn table ferry.  Well worth a trip even without the brochs as the scenery is fantastic and the ferry is quite unique.  We made our way through the village – where I was tempted to stop as there appeared to be a mini Romahome rally – with 3 or 4 micro campervans of the same variety as Gill and I have.  (Gill's is more modern than mine:-)

One was exactly the same model as mine and the others rather  more modern.  However, we didn’t come to look at campervans so onwards we went  with a very a brief stop to look at a high river bank known to be home home to the common sandpiper – none were seen but the nest holes were clearly visible.

The first archaeological stop was at Dun Telve.  Quite awe inspiring when seen for the first time. Dun Telve and Dun Troddan are among the best preserved brochs  and both are very easily accessed from the road so are popular venues.

Dun Telve has never been excavated but was “cleared out” 1914  and a number  of stone lamps, quernstones and whorls were found.

The broch is especially interesting because of the evidence of the galleries between the walls.  The gaps or “windows” into the galleries are only into the inner wall.  The outer wall is solid stone.  These “windows” may have been designed to relive the pressure on the wall.

There are two scarcement ledges –(protruding edges of long stone that run through the whole thickness of the wall.)  The lower one is at around 2 m.  It is assumed the lower scarcement provided support for a floor which could have been accessed from the stone staircase. 

more ......here.

https://u3a-skye-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/dun-telve-2-normal-0-false-false-false.html