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Tota an Dranndain is a broch situated near Shurrery in Caithness, northern Scotland. This Iron Age stone tower represents one of Scotland's most distinctive prehistoric monuments, erected between roughly 100 BC and AD 100. The broch stands on Lower Old Red Sandstone bedrock of Early Devonian age, a foundation of conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone that has weathered over 400 million years.
The broch's characteristic design comprises a hollow-walled circular stone structure, with internal galleries and chambers built into the thickness of its outer wall. This sophisticated engineering allowed brochs to achieve considerable height whilst maintaining structural integrity. The stones available from the local sandstone geology would have provided suitable building material for this monumental construction.
Tota an Dranndain is protected by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument under reference SM492, recognising its archaeological and historical significance. The broch remains an important testament to Iron Age settlement patterns and building practices in the far north of Scotland, where such towers appear to have served communal defensive or domestic purposes within prehistoric communities.
Tota an Dranndain, broch, Shurrery is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM492. View the official record →
Tota an Dranndain is a broch situated near Shurrery in Caithness, northern Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM492.
Tota an Dranndain, broch, Shurrery dates from the iron age period, and is classified as a broch, shurrery. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Tota an Dranndain, broch, Shurrery 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 SM492.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Creagan a'Bheannaich,chapel & graveyard (0.3 km), Tulach Gorm,broch near N end of Loch Shurrery (0.9 km), Cnoc an Ratha,fort SSE of Shurrery Kirk (1.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Tota an Dranndain, broch, Shurrery'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.
Tota an Dranndain, broch, Shurrery stands on Lower Old Red Sandstone, bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.