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Stair Haven is a broch situated in Wigtownshire in south-west Scotland, standing on bedrock of the Gala Group, a wacke formation laid down during the Telychian period of the Ordovician. The monument is located approximately 300 metres south of the settlement from which it takes its name. Brochs were distinctive circular stone towers built during the Iron Age, typically between the 1st century BC and 1st century AD, and are found almost exclusively in Scotland. They represent some of the most impressive prehistoric structures surviving in Britain, with their characteristic hollow-walled design providing both structural strength and defensive capability.
The broch at Stair Haven exemplifies the regional importance of these towers in Iron Age settlement patterns across southern Scotland. The local wacke stone, formed from compacted sediments of ancient marine origin, would have provided the primary building material for construction. The site's protected status under Historic Environment Scotland reference SM1990 reflects its significance as a scheduled monument of national importance.
The presence of a broch at this location indicates settled Iron Age occupation in the Wigtownshire landscape and demonstrates the distribution of such structures across the south-west of Scotland during antiquity.
Stair Haven, broch 300m S of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM1990. View the official record →
Stair Haven is a broch situated in Wigtownshire in south-west Scotland, standing on bedrock of the Gala Group, a wacke formation laid down during the Telychian period of the Ordovician. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM1990.
Stair Haven, broch 300m S of dates from the iron age period, and is classified as a broch. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Stair Haven, broch 300m S of 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 SM1990.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Laigh Sinniness,fort (1.4 km), Auchenmalg, standing stone 200m SSE of Longforth (2.5 km), Cairn, 50m NE of Culquhasen Cottages (2.8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Stair Haven, broch 300m S of'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.
Stair Haven, broch 300m S of stands on Gala Group, bedrock that formed in the Telychian. The rock here is wacke.