Archaeologists have uncovered a "once in a lifetime" find thought to be around 2,000-years-old at a dig site near Stirling.
Initial thoughts, with the site having been documented as cleared to bedrock in the Victorian era, were that there "shouldn't have been anything for them to find," but the volunteer team were "double-checking" when they made a huge discovery.
Within the ancient forest of Tor Wood, the Tappoch (also known as Torwood) Broch sits. It's a well‑preserved Iron Age broch on a low rocky knoll hidden within the woods north of Larbert, and it is the largest broch in central Scotland.
Brochs are structures that look like towers, but are never taller than they are broader, and are unique to Scotland. They are the best evidence of upper floors in prehistoric Europe and remain a fascination for historians and archaeologists alike.
One such fascinated party is Stirling Council's Archaeologist, Dr Murray Cook, who has undertaken numerous excavations across the region. He's been chipping away at the broch site for four years through various surveys, but has now been able to get digging.
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Dr Cook explained: "Because the site is a scheduled monument, you have to build up a good research design and resources to get permission to dig on the site. It's a slow, incremental process. We need to get the permission from the landowner, then we need to get the permission from Historic Environment Scotland."
Permission was granted last year, and with a team of volunteers, Dr Cook excavated some small pits which "confirmed that there was something significant." This came despite the 1860s account detailing that the site had been dug down to bedrock, leaving Dr Cook with the questions: "Did the Victorians understand what they'd left?" and "Did they misunderstand what was there?"
This led the team to uncover a trench 2m by 6m this year over a two-day project to confirm what lay beneath the knoll.
"We found an area of cobbling and the remains of a heart, which was all very exciting," explains Dr Cook, "That means that there is a 2,000-year-old floor surviving there, and finding that in situ is really once in a lifetime stuff.
"Once you actually have in situ material, you're dealing with, that’s like digging your living room and finding all about you. We’re looking through someone’s living room, really, to understand how they lived."
That information is vital to understanding the people who called the Tappoch Broch home. Dr Cook explained to The Herald that little is known about the communities that lived there due to the Roman history that defined them. The invaders were well-known for their propaganda, and what's written about the area is often through the guise of justifying their invasion.
Dr Cook explained: "You have to take what they say with a pinch of salt.
"The big thing about Tappoch Broch is that when they dug it up in the Victorian period, they never found any Roman remains, whereas every other broch around Stirling has got Roman pottery in it.
"We're not quite sure if this means either that these guys chose not to trade with Romans, maybe the Romans chose not to trade with them, or maybe it’s older or something else is going on. But of course, you need the radiocarbon dates in order to work out what's going on."
The team's potential discoveries could include materials and tools used by the occupants, helping to better understand how they lived. This vital new source of information could help "fill in the blanks" left by the little documentation surrounding the area.
The estimate for the age of the site could range from 200 BC to 200 AD, with Dr Cook admitting that, given the Roman road running next to the broch, it would get "more exciting" if the confirmed dating falls within the Roman period.
"If the Romans are marching past and the broch is right there - did they trade with them? What was going on? Why is there no Roman pottery in the broch?" questions Dr Cook, adding: "It could be that they were adamantly buying only local stuff, or a number of things, it all moves into the realm of the politics of the time really."
The area has been linked to William Wallace, with legends that he used it as a base and refuge during the Wars of Independence, particularly around the Battle of Falkirk in 1298. Most of the legends surround the "Wallace Oak" that once stood near Torwood Castle, where it's rumoured that Wallace used the oak's hollow trunk as his headquarters and hiding place, sleeping inside it with some of his officers and addressing his men under its "massive canopy."
Tappoch Broch was first recognised in 1864 when Colonel Joseph Dundas excavated what had been mapped simply as a “tumulus”, revealing a massive Iron Age stone roundhouse with thick walls, a central hearth and an intramural stair.
Later 19th‑ and 20th‑century antiquaries and archaeologists sketched, surveyed and probed the site, and post‑war excavations focused on its surrounding ramparts without fully resolving how the hilltop enclosure related to the broch itself. After decades of relative quiet, a conservation push from 2014 cleared dense scrub, enabled detailed laser‑scan survey and small keyhole digs on the wider hillfort, and confirmed the broch as one of central Scotland’s best‑preserved prehistoric houses.
The next stage for the current discoveries is another round of fundraising to allow them to collect findings from this dig and fund future endeavours. The team is currently raising approximately £600 to cover the costs of analysing the initial results. Following this, they must secure new permissions from both the landowner and Historic Environment Scotland before they can open up a larger area for digging, which will likely be in June next year.
Future excavations aim to open a trench across the hill to explore the older hill fort located directly beneath the broch.
The team also intends to excavate the exterior of the structure, specifically looking through the "rubbish" piles left behind by the Victorians, who "shovelled it all to one side" when they dug it to what they thought was bedrock. In that pile may lie many missed discoveries that could significantly reshape the understanding of the broch.
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