Matnach

NJ52NW 77 5253 2869

See also NJ52NW 78 and NJ52NW 79.

The remains of this small croft are situated 760m ESE of Blairindinny farmsteading (NJ52NW 70) on a gentle WNW-facing slope at the top of a cultivated field. The buildings, which have been heavily robbed, have been encroached upon by the plough and are obscured by piles of field-cleared stones; the most obvious feature that is visible today is a midden hollow, which measures about 7m from NNE to SSW by 5m transversely and 0.6m in depth.

The farmstead is first depicted on a late 18th-century estate plan (SRO: RHP 260/2), which shows two buildings on the S side of an area of cultivated ground; the latter measures almost four acres in extent and is annotated 'Matnoch croft James Hay'. On the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire, 1870, sheet xliii) two buildings are again shown, but by this date the steading had adopted a different layout and the earlier buildings had probably been replaced. Both buildings were abandoned before the of the 19th century and they are not depicted on the 2nd edition of the map (1902, sheet xliii.NW). After this croft and a nearby cottage (NJ52NW 78), which shared the name, were abandoned, the name Matnach was applied to a previously un-named cottage (NJ52NW 79), situated on the crest of the steep slope some 250m to the SSE.

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 23 June 1999.