Howe

NJ31SW 58 3423 1438

The disused farmstead of Howe comprises a cottage and three other buildings, all set at the rear of haughland on the left bank of the Water of Nochty. The cottage, which lies on the W, is now roofless, but survives to chimney and wall-head height. It measures 13.75m from WNW to ESE by 5.5m transversely over mortar-bonded walls 0.55m in thickness. There is a central doorway on the SSW leading into a lobby, from which a wooden stair provided access to an attic. The attic contains a gable window on the WNW but no fireplaces. On the ground-floor, the E end of the building has evidently been the kitchen, and has a fireplace measuring 2.43m in width by 0.6m in depth and about 1.3m in height. The room at the W end has been furnished with a small fireplace. Situated behind the stairwell, there is a small room which is entered from the kitchen. It contains a small fireplace, set into the N wall of the cottage, and, partly under the stairs, a compartment that probably once contained a box-bed. Attached to the ESE end of the cottage are the footings of an outshot, which is open to the S and measures 9.15m from WNW to ESE by 5.4m over all.

To the S of the cottage, and immediately W of the remains of a garden enclosure, there are the mortar-bonded footings (0.7m high and 0.5m thick) of a small building measuring 4.7m from NE to SW by 4.3m overall; its entrance is on the SW. To the NE of the cottage there is a range containing six compartments, each with its entrance to the S; the compartments are on several different levels reflecting the rise in the ground from W to E. The range measures 31.8m from WNW to ESE by 5.1m transversely over walls 0.6m in thickness and up to 1.7m in height at the E end.

A tin-roofed barn stand immediately to the SE of the range and has the remains of a horse-engine platform towards the NW end of its NE side. The barn measures 19.1m from NW to SE by 5.4m transversely over walls 0.55m in thickness and contains two main compartments, each with two entrances to the SE; the NW compartment also contains an entry to a hayloft on the NE. A small outshot with a collapsed tin roof is attached to the SE end of the building.

About 15m to the ENE of the barn there is a subrectangular platform which measures 13m from E to W by 4m transversely. Its back has been dug into the slope and is marked by a low scarp, and the leading edge is revetted by small boulders. Given its position in relation to the entry to the hay-loft, the platform is likely to be a rick-stand rather than the site of a building.

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 31 March 1998.