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Camster Broch is an Iron Age defensive tower located 500 metres south of Lower Camster in Caithness, northern Scotland. The monument stands protected as a scheduled monument under Historic Environment Scotland reference SM537. Built upon bedrock of Middle Old Red Sandstone formation dating to the Middle Devonian period, the site occupies geology comprising conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone typical of this region.
The broch represents a characteristically Scottish Iron Age architectural form, a hollow-walled circular stone tower that would have served as a defensible residence for a high-status family. The distinctive drystone construction technique and narrow gallery passages within the walls were hallmarks of broch design, allowing inhabitants to dominate the surrounding landscape and control local territories during the first centuries AD.
The Caithness location places Camster within the heartland of broch distribution in northern Britain, where these monuments cluster most densely. The moorland setting and underlying Old Red Sandstone bedrock are typical of the far north, where broch builders adapted their architectural tradition to the exposed, treeless terrain of northern Scotland. The monument survives as evidence of Iron Age settlement patterns and social organisation in this remote region.
Camster, broch 500m S of Lower Camster is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM537. View the official record →
Camster Broch is an Iron Age defensive tower located 500 metres south of Lower Camster in Caithness, northern Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM537.
Camster, broch 500m S of Lower Camster dates from the iron age period, and is classified as a broch 500m s of lower camster. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Camster, broch 500m S of Lower Camster is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM537.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Achavar,broch NNW of Occumster Railway Station (8.1 km), Rumster, broch 200m WSW of, Forse (8.8 km), Greenhill, broch 60m NE of (8.8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Camster, broch 500m S of Lower Camster's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Camster, broch 500m S of Lower Camster stands on Middle Old Red Sandstone (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Middle Devonian. The rock here is conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.