Publication Account
Date 1986
Event ID 1017397
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017397
On the terrace above this farmstead there is a long rectangular building with walls of clay and a corrugated iron roof (replacing thatch); inside, it is divided into two compartments and has five cruck trusses. The clay walls, which have been patched with masonry and brick, are set on stone footings and have been built in thin courses between layers of straw. The basic form of the oak crucks is similar to that of the cottage at Torthorwald (no. 18), but they are bigger and better finished. They consist of single blades joined by a collar-beam and tenoned into a stout capping member at the apex; the northernmost pair of blades has been sawn from the same trunk to form complementary half-tree sections.
The building probably dates from a period around 1800 when the Buccleuch estate was issuing regulations against the use of timber 'except for buildings that are to be erected in a substantial manner and covered with slates'. Clay building had long been a common feature in Canonbie. In 1772 the traveller, Thomas Pennant, noted that 'most part of the houses are built with clay', and described communal building practices similar to those at Dornock.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Dumfries and Galloway’, (1986).
