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Thrumster Little is a broch situated in Caithness, northern Scotland, and is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. Brochs are distinctive Iron Age stone towers that flourished in Scotland between roughly 100 BC and AD 100, characterised by their hollow-walled circular design and commanding presence in the landscape. This monument stands on bedrock of Middle Old Red Sandstone, a Devonian formation comprising conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone that has weathered to create the moorland terrain typical of Caithness.
The broch at Thrumster Little would have served as a fortified residence for a local elite family, its imposing stone walls providing both defensive capability and a visible symbol of status and control. The dry-stone construction technique, without mortar, required considerable skill and labour to execute. The site's location in Caithness reflects the widespread distribution of brochs across northern Scotland, where the geology and landscape offered suitable stone for their construction and communities possessed the resources and organisation to build such monuments.
Thrumster Little,broch,Thrumster is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM589. View the official record →
Thrumster Little is a broch situated in Caithness, northern Scotland, and is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM589.
Thrumster Little,broch,Thrumster dates from the iron age period, and is classified as a broch,thrumster. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Thrumster Little,broch,Thrumster 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 SM589.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Watenan,fort 100m SSW of,Ulbster (5.1 km), Watenan,cairn & stone setting 400m W of,Ulbster (5.2 km), Cairn of Get, chambered cairn, cairns and cists (5.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Thrumster Little,broch,Thrumster'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.
Thrumster Little,broch,Thrumster stands on Middle Old Red Sandstone (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Middle Devonian. The rock here is conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.