About
Dun Carloway, Dùn Chàrlabhaigh in Gaelic, is the best-preserved Iron Age building on Lewis, a broch standing nine metres tall on a rocky knoll above Loch Carloway, one of only a handful of these uniquely Scottish towers still close to full height. It was probably built about 200 BC, perhaps by a local chief as a status symbol, and used on and off until around AD 1000; its collapsed side gives a perfect cross-section of the double wall with two tiers of galleries, while the low entrance passage, guard cell and stair survive inside. Later it served as a pottery kiln and housed a respectable-looking family on its ground floor in the 1870s. The community-owned Carloway Estate Trust runs the small visitor centre on the path below. Reviewers say to mind your head at the low doorways, climb the stair for the views, and take photographs from the hill opposite; the path crosses a working croft, so watch for livestock.
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- Dun CarlowayBroch open all year, no hours published; visitor centre usually Monday to Saturday 09:00 – 18:00
Opening times may change at short notice.
Historic Scotland: 'Dun Carloway is open all year round and free to visit.' No hours, closures or notices on 20 October 2026. The Carloway Estate Trust's community visitor centre on the path, with an interpretation corridor and three pay-per-use toilets run on donations, publishes Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm with no season stated; a reviewer found its gift shop closed in March, so check locally out of season.
A rough path across agricultural land that is not fully accessible; the access points into the broch are low; strong footwear is recommended and climbing on the walls is not allowed. The site is an active croft with livestock.
Photo: Dun Carloway broch on its rocky knoll, its broken side showing the double wall, with a loch and hills beyond. Nessy-Pic, CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dun_Carloway_broch_from_the_north.JPG. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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