Dun Telve

Dun Telve stands on the north bank of the Abhainn a’ Ghlinne Bhig in Gleann Beag, four kilometres south-east of Kirkton in Glenelg. It is one of the best-preserved Iron-Age brochs in Scotland, a drystone tower built about two thousand years ago. The neighbouring Dun Troddan broch lies 470 metres to the east, while the semi-broch Dun Grugaig is about 2.5 kilometres further along the glen. The broch has been recognised since the late 18th century, when visitors began sketching its tall walls. In 1871–1873 Henry Dryden surveyed the site in detail, and by 1901 it was placed under state care. Early 20th-century repairs added concrete to the upper intramural spaces and pointed the internal wall-face. Historic Environment Scotland now maintains the site, where boundary markers still mark the protected area. Inside the tower the entrance passage leads to a small guard cell on the south side. A doorway on the north side opens into an internal cell and then into the narrowing intramural space that rises through the surviving wall. Winding stone stairs and openings at intervals once gave access to upper floors, where two horizontal ledges show where the first and second floors stood around nine metres above ground. Rectangular buildings are attached to the west and northwest sides of the broch.