Polglass
Township (Post Medieval)
Site Name Polglass
Classification Township (Post Medieval)
Canmore ID 115304
Site Number NC00NW 25
NGR NC 0312 0738
NGR Description centred on NC 0312 0738
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/115304
- Council Highland
- Parish Lochbroom
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Ross And Cromarty
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
Field Visit (20 June 1994)
NC00NW 25.00 centred on 0312 0738
NC00NW 25.01 Cottage: cruck-framed
The crofting township of Polglass occupies a strip of land between Achiltibuie, to the NW, and Badenscallie, to the SE. Many of the buildings on the crofts are still occupied but there are the remains of twenty three unroofed buildings and seven huts within the township, most of which are shown as roofed on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Cromartyshire 1881, sheet iii).
The buildings (ACHIL94 203-206, 208, 209, 211-213, 215-225, 227-229) are ranged across the hillside in a row at the back of a gently-sloping terrace some 60m to 90m to the WSW of the public road. They measure between 4m by 3.3m (ACHIL94 216) and 22.3m by 3.8m (ACHIL94 205) within faced-rubble footings up to 0.9m thick and 2.1m high. Seven of the buildings (ACHIL94 208, 213, 215, 218, 221, 224, 225) have clearly been dwellings with a fireplace and windows. There are opposed entrances in two of the buildings (ACHIL94 203, 206) which may have been barns. Cruck slots were visible in the walls of three buildings (ACHIL94 204, 213, 215).
The huts (ACHIL94 200-202, 207, 210, 214, 226) are scattered across the crofts and measure between 2.8m by 2.1m (ACHIL94 200) and 3.4m by 2.6m (ACHIL94 214) within faced-rubble footings or a stony bank up to 0.9m in thickness and 1.4m in height.
May (1758; SRO, RHP 85395) and Roy depict a cluster of buildings at about NC 036 071, of which there is now no trace. This settlement is named Poinuanan by Roy and labelled as 'Subtennants of Aicheltibuie' by May. A second cluster of buildings is depicted by May at NC 027 073, possibly in about the same location as two of the huts (ACHIL94 201, 202). There is no trace of the ridging shown by May and Roy in the strip of ground incorporated in the crofts. The layout of the croft boundaries show minor changes between the 1st and 2nd editions (Ross and Cromarty, 1906, sheet iii) and the current edition of the OS 1:10,000 map .
(ACHIL94 200-229)
Visited by RCAHMS (DCC) 20 June 1994
W Roy 1747-55
