Bailechnoic

Measured survey, site description and photographs.

This township sits on a gentle slope at 430m OD, in a grassy clearing in birch woodland, c600m W of the River Avon. It comprises the stone footings of seven buildings, including a kiln barn, two turf and stone walled enclosures and a head dyke. The head dyke defines the E boundary of the settlement and separates it from a large area of improved pasture to the E which contains faint traces of rig and furrow. A spring to the N feeds a small stream which runs N-S through the W edge of the settlement, draining into Allt Bheithachan, below; the kiln barn lies c40m W of the stream, but all of the other buildings lie on the E side. A modern track cuts diagonally through the township and has caused damage to several buildings and the head dyke. This replaces an earlier track which linked the township to the neighbouring farmstead of Wester Gaulrig (NJ11SE 7), c430m to the NE, via a route running above (N of) the buildings.

A detailed description follows below, and this should be read in conjunction with the site plan and photographs which are linked to this site record.

Buildings 1 – 4 and Enclosure A lie below (S of) the modern track. Building 1 is aligned ENE-WSW and measures c13m long, with a turf walled outshot, c4m long at the W end. The N wall has been obliterated by the estate track.

Building 2 is aligned NNW-SSE on a downward slope and measures c12m x c5m. A substantial rectangular granite boulder forms the SW corner and there is an entrance, 0.7 m wide, at the lower end of the E wall. Low discontinuous turf walls extend from the S corners of the building for c8m to Building 3, which lies below it on the same alignment. Building 3 survives as the footings of a small building, c 5m square, with an entrance, 0.7 m wide, in the S (lower) wall. It is not clear from the remains whether buildings 2 and 3 occupy the site of an earlier long building.

Building 4 is aligned ENE-WSW and measures c13m x c6m. Its back (N) wall is partly terraced into the slope and there is an entrance, 0.9m wide, in the S wall which opens on to a poorly defined stone-edged depression, possibly a midden. There is a smaller opening, 0.4 m wide, in the N wall.

Enclosure A lies to the E of Buildings 2, 3 and 4: it is roughly rectangular and measures c30m x c25m, with walls c1.2m thick standing up to 1 m high. A small stone footing projects from the W wall.

Buildings 5-6 and Enclosure B lie above (N of) the modern track. Building 5 is aligned ENE-WSW and measures c12m x c5m, with an entrance in the SE wall. A drainage ditch runs around the NE and NW walls.Building 6 is aligned NNW-SSE and measures c9m x c5m. A drainage ditch runs around the NNW wall.

Enclosure B lies to the E of Buildings 5 and 6. It is an irregular B-shape and seems to have originated from a sub-circular enclosure, c17m x c14m, which was incorporated into a later rectangular enclosure, c23m x c13m. A shallow drainage ditch with a pronounced drain hood runs around the sub-circular section of wall and there is a small circular pit outside the enclosure on the NE side.

Building 7, the kiln barn, lies on the W side of the stream c50m W of Building 1. It is aligned NE-SW and measures c12m x c5m, with the kiln bowl at the SW end and the fragmentary remains of two out shots at the NE end. The kiln bowl measures 2.9m in diameter and is 1.2m deep.

The head dyke is built of turf and stone and stands up to 1.3 m high. It runs NE of the township for c100m and SW for c150m before petering out on the steep-sided valley of Allt Bheithachan. On the township side, it is stone-faced and nearly vertical, fronted with a ditch approximately 0.6m wide and 0.3m deep; on the outer face the dyke is of turf, sloped at an angle of approximately 45 degrees. The feature seems to be designed to prevent animals straying from the township site onto the arable land to the S and E , and bears a notable resemblance to the design for an enclosure wall preserved in the Gordon Castle muniments, dated 1760 (GD44/40/10).

The settlement of Bailechnoic is not shown on William Roy’s Military Survey of Scotland, 1747 – 1755, but an estate map of 1773 (NAS, RHP 1746) shows four buildings and both enclosures. On a later estate map of c.1840 (NAS, RHP 1815), all of the buildings and enclosures are shown. The 1st Edition of the Ordnance Survey 6-inch map (Banff-shire sheet lxiii, surveyed 1869, published 1871) shows Buildings 2, 4 and 5 as roofed structures, and Enclosure A with three trees growing along its SE wall. The accompanying name book identifies ‘Two cottage dwellings, in the occupation of Shepherds’. The 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map (revised 1900) shows Buildings 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 as unroofed, and Enclosure A.

Information from SRP Strathavon, August 2011.