General view of the village of Scourie from south.

Description General view of the village of Scourie from south.

Date 1886

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number SU 191

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 695875

Scope and Content Scourie, Highland Scourie, a small crofting community in the north-west of Sutherland, sits on the edge of Scourie Bay in a remote area near the north-west tip of Scotland. The Victorian photographer, Erskine Beveridge, photographed the village in 1886. The village is a collection of neat, harled and whitewashed, single-storeyed cottages clustered together against a backdrop of rugged hills. Most were built in 19th century to replace earlier buildings with thatched roofs which have been converted to use as barns and outbuildings. The field boundary walls, constructed with local stone and without mortar, add character to the area. Field boundary walls, called 'dykes' in Scotland, provide an insight into the skill of the builders and the adaptation of their techniques to suit the limitations of the material to hand. The walls are constructed without mortar, and many are finished with a course of 'stone-on-edge' coping stones. Others have a rough oversailing course below the top header course for the protection of the faces of the walls, while some are simply heaped stones which provide a rough barrier. The style and pattern of wall-building varies throughout the country, so much so that an observant traveller could recognise the area from the field boundary walls. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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