Badenscallie

NC00NW 55.00 centred 0375 0625

NC00NW 55.01 Centred NC 0361 0662 Buildings; Enclosures; Corn-drying kiln (ACHIL94 70-1, 253-6)

NC00NW 55.02 NC 0337 0671 Fishing Bothy (ACHIL94 69)

NC00NW 55.03 Centred NC 0391 0665 Buildings (ACHIL94 89, 252, 257-9, 585)

NC00NW 55.04 Centred NC 0375 0625 Buildings; Huts (ACHIL94 50-1, 53-60, 63-8, 72, 159, 250-1)

NC00NW 55.05 NC 0383 0591 Farmstead (ACHIL94 61-2)

See also:

NC00NW 56 NC 0354 0613 Fishing bothy [within area of township]

Peter May's survey (1758) of the Barony of Coigach (SRO RHP 85395) places the core of the farm of Badenscallie on the S side of the Badenscallie Burn, below the road at about NC 0375 0625. May also depicts two other clusters of buildings on the N side of the burn, again between the road and the sea. Baldwin (1994) has traced the history of the township through estate rentals from the mid 18th century to the mid 19th century, when the tenantry successfully resisted attempts to evict them in favour of sheep. By the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Cromartyshire 1881, sheets iii and vii) most of the northern part of the township had been divided into narrow enclosed crofts, but it appears that the rest of the ground was not so enclosed until after the 2nd edition of the map (Ross and Cromarty 1906, sheets iii and vii).

About three dozen ruined structures were recorded in the area below the public road. Only a few of these could confidently be ascribed to the period before the enclosure of the crofts, principally a group at Lurachan (NC00NW 55.01), which appears to be one of the clusters mapped by May. Another cluster close to the road (NC00NW 55.03) is also situated on a site marked by May, although the buildings recorded were all in use in the late 19th century, as were many of the buildings recorded in the third cluster close to the Badenscallie Burn, again on the site of a settlement marked by May (NC00NW 55.04). Three sites are described separately; two (NC00NW 55.02 and NC00NW 56) are probably fishing bothies and the third is a well-preserved farmstead at the S edge of the township (NC00NW 55.05). There is also a recent burial ground and a prehistoric hut-circle within the area of the township (NC00NW 1 and NC00NW 7).

Visited by RCAHMS (SDB), May-June 1994.