Broch of Clickimin

Nearly 2,000 years of continuous occupation from Bronze Age farming to post-broch settlement, with a coronation stone linking the site to rituals of power.

Around the 7th century BC, a family chose a grassy islet in Clickimin Loch as the site for their farmstead. They built walls to enclose livestock, cultivated barley using stone troughs, and established what would become one of the longest-occupied sites in Shetland. By the 5th century BC, a larger circular house replaced the original, suggesting growing prosperity or population. Two centuries later, the settlement was transformed: a defensive ditch was dug across the land bridge, walls were strengthened, and a blockhouse was constructed inside the gate—the community now felt the need for fortification.

Then came the broch. Around the 1st century AD, the circular tower rose from the islet—a monument visible across the loch and surrounding landscape, reaching 12 to 15 metres in height. Inside, rooms stacked vertically with stone staircases between floors. The broch was more than a dwelling; it was a statement of power, a visible assertion of control over the territory.

Eventually the tower was reduced in height and a single-family wheelhouse built within its walls. Settlement became less organised, with poorly constructed houses partly built into earlier ruins. By around AD 500, the site was abandoned entirely. When Norse settlers arrived around AD 800, Clickimin was already a ruin, its significance forgotten by those who passed it.