The Broch of Mousa
Mousa, Shetland
The Broch of Mousa is a drystone tower 13. 3 metres tall, built with no mortar about 300 BC.
Read the full story, see it on the map, get directions and find what else is nearby in the free Hidden Britain Atlas map.
- When
- c. 300 BC
- Where
- 60.0000, -1.1830
- Group
- Circles & monuments
Visiting
Boat trips from Sandwick in summer, including night trips.

The Ledger of Lost Britain
In the Orkneyinga Saga, Earl Harald Maddadsson besieged it in 1153, after his mother was abducted and held inside. Today it is a home for storm petrels.
The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.
Nearby mysteries
- The St Ninian's Isle TreasureLost treasure · St Ninian's Isle, Shetland · 6 miles away
- JarlshofAncient monument · Sumburgh, Shetland · 10 miles away
- The Shetland BusSecret site · Scalloway, Shetland · 10 miles away
- The KennemerlandShipwreck · Out Skerries, Shetland · 33 miles away
- El Gran GrifónShipwreck · Fair Isle, Shetland · 37 miles away
- RAF Saxa VordSecret site · Unst, Shetland · 58 miles away