Building record MAB20903 - SWIRLS

Remains of a croft depicted on historic maps.

Remains of a croft depicted on historic maps. A late 18th century estate map of Blairs shows two rectangular longhouses aligned north-south within an area of cultivation. The 1830 Blairs estate map shows only an irregular enclosure and no buildings, but on an 1843 estate map the farm appears as a long narrow rectangular building and yard. The OS 1st edition maps depicts a long range (aligned east-west) with a rectangular building and yard to the south. The croft was worked until the 1960s. A building survey was carried out in 2012 by MAS as part of a landscape survey of the Blairs estate in advance of proposed development of the estate. The long range measures 23.8m by 5.3m externally, comprised of rubble stone partially harled at the east end and appears to have developed in three stages. Originally comprising a dwelling at the east end and byre at the west, it had been extended by 1842 by a second byre, and extended further to the west in the later 19th century. The dwelling end had originally comprised a main dwelling to the east with a separate room for a single worker to the west, each with a separate door in the south wall to the yard. The three byres to the west retained no original features.The second building measured 10.35m by 5.1m externally, built of rubble stone. It is divided by a wall at roughly head height into two equal sized compartments each with a door in the east wall into the yard. Internally the south compartment had floor level troughs along the north and south walls with timber hay hakes above, The floor was cobbled. It would have held 8 tied cows. The north compartment had a trough along the west wall with fittings for a hay hake. Only a few fragments of wall remain of structures that were later added between the buildings and against the smaller building. The yard had been enclosed with the stackyard circa 50m to the south-southwest. Five stack bases 3.5-4m in diameter and circa 300-500m high were identified and others may remain under the dense gorse. To the west of the stackyard were the remaining traces of an irregular system of drystone walls. Whilst these appear on the mid 19th century maps they appear by 1842 to have been largely replaced by the Improvement layout that survives today. They are probably the last vestiges of the pre-Improvement field system shown on the late 18th century estate map. To the north of the long range was a well, beside which a small tin-roofed timber lean-to with a brick built fireplace was probably a wash house. Stone rubble suggests this replaced a slightly larger stone structure.

BABTIE GROUP, 2004, ABERDEEN WESTERN PERIPHERAL ROUTE: ARCHAEOLOGICAL DESK-BASED STUDY & WALKOVER SURVEY. VOL 1: TEXT, VOL 2 GAZETTEER, Site 38 (Bibliographic reference). SAB3745.

MURRAY ARCHAEOLOGICAL SERVICES, 2012, BLAIRS ABERDEENSHIRE. PART 1: HISTORIC LANDSCAPE SURVEY, MAS2012-08 Pt 1 (Bibliographic reference). SAB4999.

MURRAY ARCHAEOLOGICAL SERVICES, 2012, BLAIRS ABERDEENSHIRE. PART 3: STANDING BUILDING SURVEY OF THE STEADING, MAS2012-08 Pt 3 (Bibliographic reference). SAB5001.

Record last edited

Jun 2 2025 10:17AM