HES Thematic Survey: Mountain Bothies

Date June 2022 - May 2023

Event ID 1156939

Category Project

Type Project

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1156939

HES Archaeological Survey undertook a desk-based thematic recording project on mountain bothies between June 2022 and May 2023. The principal aim of the project was to ensure that the 99 bothies included in a popular recent guidebook (Allan 2017) were represented in the National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE). Each site record includes (a) a summary description of the building and its immediate context with a particular emphasis on the historic landscape, (b) reference to historic maps as appropriate and (c) a summary of readily available documentary evidence.

The sources used in the project included the existing data held in the NRHE (canmore.org.uk); vertical aerial photographs available through Aerial Photography for Great Britain (apgb.co.uk); land-use characterisation data from the Historic Land-use Assessment (HLA) project (hlamap.org.uk); historic maps published through the National Library of Scotland (nls.uk); Ordnance Survey (OS) Name Books (scotlandsplaces.gov.uk); and documentary records held by the National Records of Scotland (scotlandspeople.gov.uk). References are included in descriptions for both historic maps and OS Name Books, while HLA data can be identified by National Grid Reference. For sources such as Census Records and Valuation Rolls the original document referred to can be identified using the information given. Each building can be identified in the NRHE by a simple search using the placename and the word ‘bothy’.

The project resulted in the creation of 109 site descriptions for the NRHE including nine that describe new features located in close proximity to a bothy. Of the total, 60 describe new additions to the record while the remaining 49 update and enhance pre-existing site records. The buildings that are now used as bothies are generally of 19th century date, though at least 20 occupy locations with longer histories of occupation. These are situated near or within settlements depicted on Roy’s Military Map (1747-55), and the remains of post-medieval townships, where older buildings, field systems and cultivation remains can be observed. Of the 19th century buildings, the great majority were built as estate houses or outbuildings occupied by agricultural tenants or, more commonly, by estate workers. At least 52 can be confidently identified as former shepherd’s cottages, and an additional eight housed gamekeepers. Some occupy the outbuildings of a former shepherd’s cottage or farmstead (e.g. Doune, Kinbreack and Sourlies), while others have been accommodated in estate outbuildings such as Barisdale and Callater. A further 12 were built for or used by shooting parties, including those that occupy outbuildings at more prestigious hunting lodges such as Ruigh Aiteachain, and the Royal lodges at Glas-Allt-Shiel (Category B Listed) and Gelder Shiel (Category C Listed). A handful of the buildings are of 20th century date, including the stalker’s house at Coire Fionnaraich (c.1913), the coastguard lookout at Meall Tuath (c.1928) and the bespoke mountaineering huts built after 1950 (e.g. Hutchison Memorial Hut).

Though modified for their current use, most bothies retain a typical vernacular style, whether the 3-bay single-storey cottage ubiquitous in the mid-19th century or the slightly larger 1 ½ storey buildings more common in later decades of the 19th century. Rackwick (Category A Listed) is perhaps the only building that exhibits a strong regional character, while Craig stands alone as a more substantial house, later a youth hostel, that has become a bothy. Few have architectural pretensions but Glencoul and Glendhu, both on the estate of the Duke of Westminster, Coire Fionnaraich and Greensykes are unusual in the quality of their construction and the attention to detail.

Site descriptions were written by Darroch Bratt and Dr George Geddes and edited by Dr Geddes and Dr David Cowley.

Information from HES Archaeological Survey (G F Geddes) 25 May 2023