Stronghold Scotland is your passport (or should that be pastport?) to a land 2,000 or more years ago. Welcome to the Iron Age.
In those times, Scotland was even more individual, independent, inimitable and idiosyncratic than it is today. But this was no idyllic Garden of Eden, for it was inhabited by numerous tribes, large and small, that built more than 1,000 strongholds.
From brochs, duns and hillforts, to blockhouses, crannogs and wheelhouses, many of these pre-historic strongholds are unique not only in Britain or Europe, but in the world. And then came the Romans… Yes, the strongholds of the Latin invaders, who failed to conquer the native ‘barbarians’, are included, too. All of these are spread amidst some of the most magnificent, attractive and remote countryside, from Shetland to the Borders, and from the east coast to the Outer Hebrides, and all parts in between.
Geoffrey Williams leads you on a fascinating and little known story of a land and people even the mighty Romans failed to subdue. Stronghold Scotland introduces the society, tribes and the development behind all the strongholds.
Most of all, the gazetteer is divided into five regional sections featuring the finest 120 pre-historic and Roman strongholds throughout the land, enabling and encouraging you to visit them. From their ruins will rise a vision of a long-gone society, with its innovative, practical, artistic and, on occasions, violent people.
- Comprehensive gazetteer and guide to 120 strongholds.
- Map references to many other strongholds.
- Illustrations, plans and photographs.