Milton

Measured survey and photographs.

This township is situated at 270m OD on a gently-sloping terrace approximately 30m S of the Milton Burn and 250m WSW of Milton Farm. It comprises six rectangular buildings (Buildings 1-6) and two enclosures. A seventh building (Building 7) lying on the N bank of the Milton Burn at NJ 13783 24795 has also been recorded as part of this site.

The main settlement (Buildings 1-6) is divided by a modern post-and-wire fence running roughly N-S. The ground to the E of the fence is improved pasture and that to the W is deep heather and bog. The N edge of this area has been damaged by the construction of an estate track, and probably also by erosion of the lip of the steep-sided valley of the Milton Burn (formerly known as Allt na Caoire).

Building 1 is the largest building on site, measuring nearly 25m long, and is sub-divided into two main compartments, with minor sub-divisions within each. Its walls of roughly-coursed dry-stone rubble stand up to 1.5m high and are 0.8m thick. The S gable is most intact and the masonry here resembles an Aberdeenshire bond. This building exhibits much evidence of adaptation and possible re-building, and its northernmost portion appears to be earlier than the S. The N corners of the walls are boldly rounded on the outside, but sharply square inside, whilst the S corners are square, both inside and out. The wall-head at the NE corner is capped with turf and there is a possible cruck slot close to the N end of the E wall. In its final phase, the S compartment of this building appears to have been a dwelling and the N compartment a byre, both accessed by separate entrances in the E wall. A blocked opening in the subdividing wall between these units suggests that they were previously inter-connected, but further phasing in the internal walls of this building is difficult to disentangle. A substantial rectangular enclosure extending to the W of the building has been partially destroyed by the modern estate track.

Building 2 survives as substantial stone and turf footings, 0.7m high and 0.9m thick. The building is partly sunk below ground level and thickly covered with heather. The E wall forms part of a rectangular enclosure which also incorporates Building 6 in its NE corner.

Building 3 survives as the poorly preserved stone and turf footings of a small building, subdivided into two compartments, with an entrance on the E wall. It is partly terraced into its gently-sloping site, and drained by a ditch to the W. Three sturdy birch trees are rooted in the interior.

Building 4 is a kiln barn built into a steep natural slope on the W of the site. A well-built stone-lined kiln bowl is located in the centre of the building, with heather-covered footings of rectangular structures attached both above (N) and below (S). It is not clear if these structures were contemporary with each other or if they represent different phases of use. The kiln bowl measures 2.0m in diameter at the top and is approximately 1.2m deep. This building is similar to building 3 in Wester Gaulrig at NJ 158 138, 401m OD. The dimensions of both buildings are approximately 10m by 5m.

Building 5 is an L-shaped range, comprising a house aligned E-W, with a byre range attached at right angles to its N wall. The two elements are not keyed into each other and are built in the same style. The house is of roughly-coursed dry-stone rubble with slightly battered walls, standing up to three courses (0.7m) high and measuring 0.75m thick. The byre range survives as substantial stone footings and is sub-divided into two similarly-sized compartments, accessed from separate entrances on the W wall. The north-most compartment contains a substantial stone-lined drain.

Building 6 survives as the poorly-preserved stone-and-turf footings of a small building incorporated into the NE corner of a rectangular enclosure. It has been disturbed at the S end by excavation of a deep drainage ditch.

In addition to the enclosures associated with Buildings 1, 2 and 6, large boulders enclose a substantial area to the S and E of the township, and a smaller area occupying a knoll south of Building 6.

On the rising ground west of the township there is a notable hollow, probably created by quarrying to extract the fine sand which forms the subsoil of the terrace on which the township stands.

Building 7 stands on a level terrace at NJ 13783 24795 on the N side of the Milton Burn, approximately 60m N of Building 1. It is constructed of neat roughly-coursed dry-stone rubble with a turf capping up to 0.5m deep topping parts of the SW corner and E walls - possibly the remains of turf walling below the eaves. The building comprises two compartments with walls standing up to 1m high and 0.6m thick. The N compartment is neatly constructed with square corners inside and out. There is an entrance 0.7m wide (whose lintel lies on the ground outside) and a splayed window or ventilation opening in the E wall. The S compartment is more roughly built, with rounded external corners and a mixture of square and rounded interior corners. There may have been an entrance in the E wall, but this is now obscured by tumble. There is a window or ventilation opening in the W wall, with reversed splay, measuring 0.6m wide on the outside, 0.4m wide inside.

William Roy’s Military Survey of Scotland, 1747 - 1755, shows a township called Inverlochie lying S of the Milton Burn, close to the location of the surveyed site, but this name may relate to the modern Inverlochy Farm which lies approximately 500m to the S at NJ 13990 23989. The township is shown but not named on the modern and historic Ordnance Survey maps. The 1st Edition of the OS six-inch map (Banffshire 1872, surveyed 1869, sheet xxxv) shows Buildings 1 and 5 as unroofed and the enclosure attached to Building 1 as tree-lined. The 2nd Edition map (surveyed 1900) records only Building 1 with its enclosure. The modern 1:10,000 map shows Buildings 1, 2, 5, 7 and fragments of field dykes.

Milton Farm, lying at the foot of the Milton Burn, was formerly known as Baileamhuilinn. The ‘woolen mill’ (presumably a fulling mill) to which the place-names refer was demolished within living memory.

Information from SRP Strath Avon Survey, August 2011.