Mousa Broch

Mousa is unlike other broch towers – it has the smallest diameter of any, but its walls are far thicker than in others. Its massive build probably explains its excellent state of preservation, and suggests that this has always been an exceptionally tall broch.

We don’t know whether Mousa represents the peak of broch building, or if other towers of similar height and strength once existed but did not survive.

Mousa Broch is mentioned in two historical documents.

Egil’s Saga relates how, in AD 900, an eloping couple from Norway found themselves shipwrecked in Shetland, and sought refuge in ‘Morseyarborg’.

The Orkneyinga Saga recounts how, in AD 1153, a certain Erlend abducted Margaret, the mother of Earl Harold and took her to Morseyarborg ‘where everything had been made ready’. Earl Harold besieged the broch but found it ‘an unhandy place to get at’ for attack.

The Orkneyinga Saga mentions several of our properties in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, including:

• Cubbie Roo’s Castle

• Earl’s Bu

• Eynhallow Chapel