Sibster Farm Steading

Date 23 June 1997

Event ID 898518

Category Management

Type Site Management

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/898518

Buildings at Risk Register BARR

Large range of steadings, built in rubble and disposed around a square court. The west range is the earliest in date and includes a kiln barn. The kiln forms a bow-ended gable to the north and rises up above the ridge as a tapering inverted cone with a circular apex vent. A square aperture sits at the north end whilst a later doorway sits to the west.

The interior features a flue vent, kiln platform and upper door in the south wall. This bottle-type corn-drying kiln is a rare survival and one of only two surviving examples in Caithness. A second later barn sits parallel to the first and is linked to it to the south in order to form a U-plan court. A ramp once led to a wide entrance in the north gable. The north face of the court is filled with an early-mid 19th century hexagonal horse engine house, the only example of its type in Caithness. A square chimney serves the coal boiler which superseded the horse engine. The west side is filled by a byre and modern cattle courts. The south side features an open-fronted fold with 6 segmental-headed openings. (Historic Scotland)

Sibster Farm steading is noted as an outstanding farm complex in which most agricultural activities can be seen through the ranges of buildings; including a roofed horsegang and a brick flue for the steam threshing machine. (Caithness Redundant Buildings Inventory).

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