RockStanza.Info - Brochs of Shetland

One of Shetland's mysteries is the enigma of the brochs - iron age stone towers. There are over 100 listed candidate broch sites in the literature for Shetland alone. Orkney, Caithness and other northern parts of Scotland are studded with these stone towers from the Iron Age.

This site has two simple aims.

One. The site itself is intended to form a useful tool for others with similar interests. For those who are able to visit the Brochs themselves, the information here will be useful in planning trips in advance. For those who are far away, here you will find a growing photographic library to peruse. With up to 60 images taken for some brochs (each recorded with a bearing and location), the idea is to survey the condition of each site now and also to allow exploration of how these sites may have inter-related to one another. Hence the site will record each 'Rock', or at least the ones on the outside!

Two. Visiting a broch site also evokes a wish to connect with the people who built them. Even as that wish is frustrated by the silence of the stones, we cannot help but look at our own hands on the masonry, thinking of each individual little shred of effort. This site aims to encourage everyone with an interest to submit poems, songs or stories inspired by their experience of the brochs. We are looking for a Stanza from you please.

In putting these two ideas together then we have 'RockStanza', the name of the site and the characterisation of its aims. However the name also reflects the idea of the transient nature of our society here and of the broch-builders. In the geological timescale, the contruction, use and ruination of the brochs are virtually simultaneous with our industrial revolution and the silicon rock of our computer age.