Plan approved to build Scotland’s first broch for 2,000 years

A plan to recreate an Iron Age broch in Caithness has moved a step forward after the scheme was granted planning permission.

Brochs – tall, double-walled drystone towers – have only ever been found in Scotland.

Ruins of the fortified houses survive in parts of the Highlands, Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland.

The Caithness Broch Project’s tower is proposed for a site near Latheron, south of Wick and would be the first to be constructed in 2,000 years.

Planning permission was approved by Highland Council officials under delegated powers.

The initiative still has to secure all the funding it needs to construct the replica broch.

In August, the Flow Country Partnership and University of the Highlands and Islands’ North, West and Hebrides division joined the project.

One idea they are developing is to make the broch the official eastern gateway to the Flow Country Unesco World Heritage Site, a large area of protected blanket bog.

Caithness Broch Project said securing planning permission was an important step in a “long journey” that started more than two years ago.