View of straw barn NC 5322 1489) from SE, with threshing barn behind See MS/744/102/1, 2, 3, item 5

Description View of straw barn NC 5322 1489) from SE, with threshing barn behind See MS/744/102/1, 2, 3, item 5

Date 17/8/1995

Collection Scottish Farm Buildings Survey

Catalogue Number C 61106

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 738278

Scope and Content Interior of straw barn, Shinness Steading, Highland Shinness Steading was built on the huge Sutherland estate which, by 1873, comprised almost 1.3m acres, more than 90% of the county. Shinness was originally a sheep farm, but between 1872 and 1877, the land was drained to create four new arable farms and in 1882 new buildings were erected at Shinness itself. This shows the inside of the straw barn from the south-east, with the threshing barn behind. The floor is made of Caithness flagstones while the wooden open-tread staircase leads to the threshing floor above. The upper level is plastered and the wooden floorboards worn where the men stood to feed the threshing machine. A total of £145,556 was spent by the estate on land reclamation between 1873 and 1878. After that the agricultural depression was setting in and all work ceased in 1882. From the 1870s some of the poorer land was being turned over to deer and hunting lodges were being built. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/226859