Building record MAB36927 - AUCHFERSIE, TILLYBIRNIE

Remains of a farmstead depicted on Ainslie's Map in 1794, but by the 1st edition OS map (1865) only one building is in use of the three small rectangular buildings shown.

Remains of a farmstead depicted on Ainslie's Map in 1794, but by the 1st edition OS map (1865) only one building is in use of the three small rectangular buildings shown. There are also two enclosures shown, both attached to the southernmost building and marked as a sheepfold. By the 2nd edition OS map all of the buildings are shown as disused. J Sherriff in 1984 recorded that the buildings measure between 17m and 23m in length and up to 7m in width. Further detail was provided by the RCAHMS during a field survey in 1989. Auchfersie was originally in Navar parish, but, probably as a result of its possession by the Carnegie family of Balnamoon, who owned the barony of Menmuir from the early 17th century, it came into Menmuir parish. This farmstead comprises the remains of a group of six buildings and two stone-walled enclosures. The building roofed on the 1st edition OS map comprises a single-cell structure with a door centrally placed in the south wall, an outshot on its west side, and a drain running around the north and east sides. Its walls are constructed of roughly coursed and dressed stone which is bonded with clay and still stands up to 1.5m high at the southwest corner. A heap of stone partly obscures the outshot and may be derived from a modern gap in the stone dyke which leads off to the west. Similar dykes run off to the north and east. These drystone dykes are indicated on the 1st edition OS map which also shows the two stone-walled enclosures as sheepfolds. However, it is evident that both enclosures encompass earlier phases. The ruins of a single-celled building, with its west end knocked out, form the walls of the two folds on the north and south. In addition, the grass-covered footings of a two-celled building are evident within the northeast corner of the smaller fold, which is also bisected by a low bank leading off from the building. The peculiar kinks in the southwest corner of the larger fold suggest that it was an expansion of a much smaller enclosure attached to the single-celled building. Further buildings and structures, including a long building of three compartments with an outshot at its southwest end, occupy the ground between the sheepfolds and the final phase house. This long building is shown unroofed on the 1st edition OS map and its walls still stand 1m high. The remaining structures survive as low grass-covered footings. A datestone of 1772 was removed from the site by the present farmer and placed in his yard at Rome farm (NO 522 664) on the opposite side of the valley. It is not clear to which building it belonged. The land around the farmstead has been improved, but still shows traces of ploughed-down broad curving rig-and-furrow cultivation. To the east, the rig-and-furrow is overlain by a stone dyke. At least four furlongs can be identified.

STRONACH, S, 11/2003, Shandford Hill, Angus: appraisal of impact (Bibliographic reference). SAB3408.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Ainslie, J, 1794, [Untitled] (Bibliographic reference). SAB10519.

Warden, A J, 1880-5, [Untitled] (Bibliographic reference). SAB10174.

RCAHMS, 1984, [Untitled], 17, No.85 (Bibliographic reference). SAB9402.

Record last edited

Jul 17 2020 2:18PM