<< Our Photo Pages >> Torwood Broch - Broch or Nuraghe in Scotland in Falkirk
Submitted by cosmic on Friday, 23 September 2005 Page Views: 21946
Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Torwood Broch Alternative Name: Tappoch BrochCountry: Scotland
NOTE: This site is 2.2 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Falkirk Type: Broch or Nuraghe
Nearest Town: Falkirk Nearest Village: Torwood
Map Ref: NS8333584986
Latitude: 56.043487N Longitude: 3.874351W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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External Links:
I have visited· I would like to visit
neo_lithic visited on 2nd Nov 2018 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4 Fantastic site with a great feel about it, you can really get a sense of how the people would have lived and the sense of age is great. Well worth a visit.
Anne T visited on 13th May 2017 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Tappoch/Torwood Broch, West Lothian: I’d wanted to go in search of the 2 boundary stones near Torphinchen, but was over-ruled in favour of the broch at Tappoch. By the time we’d left Torphinchen, the rain really started to come down, but being equipped with waterproofs, and supposedly sheltered by the tall forest trees, we set off anyway.
Parking on Glen Road, close to the footpath, we set off up the public right of way to Denoven (the car park that is mentioned in the main page is now a new house), then took the path which headed off right and up hill into the forest. It was lovely, soft spongy ground to walk on, with all the pine needles forming a soft covering over the prolific bedrock slabs.
Continuing up the hillside, the rain got heavier, but as we reached the broch, the rain stopped for a short period (just long enough for us to explore the broch).
The easiest way to access the interior of the broch is to take the path to your left, walking round the exterior wall of the broch. An internal staircase comes into view, and it’s easy walking down these few steps. Going straight up the hill was definitely for mountain goats! The interior feels roomy and solid, with sturdy, dry stone walls.
The foresters (or others) have clearly been using this structure, as there were the remains of a stone fire pit and recently burnt wood.
Looking closer at the lumps and bumps around the broch, I think there are other structures attached to this site. There was a very steep drop on the broch’s southern side, clearly excellent for defences.
Well worth a visit, even if it took several hours to dry out afterwards!
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.5 Ambience: 4.5 Access: 4
The broch itself was excavated in 1864 - prior to this it was considered to be just a mound. The walls at ground level are twenty feet thick. Part of the internal stairway is still visible with the remaining walls being about seven feet high.
Stuck in the motorway triangle between Stirling and Falkirk (M9,M80 and M876) is a broch. From the minor road through the village drive up the signposted Public Right of Way to Denovan and park in the car park on the left. Just before the the car park there is a small path going off the right hand side of the track into the wood. Follow this path for about ten minutes and then take the right fork into the broch (it's well hidden) but if the path starts going downhill you've gone too far. Apologies for the detailed instructions but even a local dog walker didn't know of its existence!
For more information see Canmore ID 47004 which contains extensive notes including a Publication Account from 2007 and Excavation Notes from 2014.
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