Note 76 — LECTURE IV. (28th October 1881.) THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE BROCHS.

It is to be observed that the type of Round Tower peculiar to Scotland, and known by the name Broch, differs totally, and in all its essential features, from the tall, slender, round Towers of Ecclesiastical construction in Scotland and Ireland. The Brochs are dry-built, the Ecclesiastical Round Towers are lime-built. No hewn stone is used in the construction of a Broch; the doors and windows of the Ecclesiastical Round Towers are often of hewn stone, and sometimes ornamented with sculptures. The Brochs have their chambers, stairs, and galleries in the thickness of the wall enclosing the central area; the lime-built Round Towers possess none of these features. The Brochs have their doorways always on the ground and their windows opening to the interior area; the Ecclesiastical Round Towers have their windows opening in the exterior wall, and their doors placed at a considerable height above the ground. There is thus no point of similarity between the two types of structure except their external roundness.