Field Visit

Date 1980

Event ID 882324

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/882324

Horse-gang, Conisby

NR 262 618

This open platform, one of two such horse-gangs in Conisby township and characteristic of many small farms throughout Scotland, was complete with drive mechanism and threshing-mill in working condition at the time of survey in 1980 (cf NR61SE 10.01). It stands adjacent to a small barn at the lower (SE) end of a linear range comprising a house and steading. Part of the dwelling is covered with rush thatch bedded on heather divots, but the barn itself is roofed with corrugated iron. The horse-powered equipment was introduced in 1910, superseding the traditional practice of threshing with flails. The platform measures 30ft (9.14m) in diameter overall; the underground drive-shaft, hub, gearing and harness-bar (swing-tree) are of all-iron construction, and the spur wheel measures 3ft 6in (1.07m) in diameter.

RCAHMS 1980