Druim Reamhar

NN63NW 86 63334 36815.

This township stands at the N edge of a pasture field 350m ENE of Kiltyrie farmhouse. It comprises nine rectangular buildings, a corn-drying kiln and three enclosures, and there is a small grass-grown quarry scoop to the W, at NN 63265 36838 (BL00 2037). The buildings are overgrown with bracken and nettles, and a large static caravan, now derelict, stands at the centre of the site. The visible remains appear to belong to at least two phases of occupation. In its later phase the settlement comprised three buildings grouped around a roughly rectangular yard, with two additional buildings and two enclosures to the NW. A sixth building and a kiln to the SE of the main group may also belong to this phase, but the other three buildings, of which only slight traces remain, may be earlier.

The principal building (BL00 703), which defines the NNW side of the yard, is a byre-dwelling measuring 21.5m in length by 3.8m in breadth within rubble walls up to 0.7m in height. It has been divided into four compartments, and there are two entrances in the SSE side. A byre-drain runs the length of the E compartment, leading out beneath the SSE wall towards a scooped midden. The WSW side of the yard is formed by the second building (BL00 702), which measures 16.5m in length by 4m in breadth within walls up to 0.8m in height. It has been divided into two compartments, and there is an outshot at the N end. A farm track now runs across the S compartment, almost obliterating the side walls. The third building (BL00 704) stands at the ENE side of the yard, immediately W of the midden. It measures internally 7m by 2.3m, the SSE gable stands up to 1.5m in height, and it has an entrance in the centre of each side, which suggests that it served as a barn. The SSE side of the yard is defined by a drystone dyke, now partly obscured by dumps of field-cleared stones, which appears to incorporate a fragment of an earlier building. To the SE of the yard, abutting the SSE gable of the barn, there is a corn-drying kiln (BL00 2044) with a bowl measuring 1.9m in diameter and a lintelled flue opening to the SSE, and 10m the SE of the kiln there are the grass-grown footings of a small outbuilding (BL00 2045).

There is a second enclosure to the NW of the yard, bounded on its N side by a trackway approaching the township from the NW. Just beyond the NW corner of this enclosure there are two buildings facing each other across the trackway. The larger (N) building measures internally 18.8m from E to W by 3.5m transversely, and is divided into three compartments, each with an entrance on the S (BL00 700). It has stone gables, one of which survives to a height of 2m, and two cruck-slots can be traced in the N wall. The S building (BL00 701) measures internally 9.2m from E to W by 3.2m transversely, and has a small stone-walled enclosure attached to its N side.

Two buildings, lying side-by-side to the NE of the main yard, remain to be described. They have both been severely robbed, and both are crossed by a later drystone dyke. One (BL00 2046) occupies a platform set into rising ground and measures 12.3m by 3.4m within a stony bank from which a few large grounders protrude. The other (BL00 2047) is even less-clearly defined; its walls have been reduced to slight grass-grown banks, though large stones appear to mark the four corners. It measures 10.8m by 3.9m overall.

John Farquharson's 1769 Survey of the North Side of Loch Tay (National Archives of Scotland, RHP 973/1, Plan 6) depicts a township here comprising six buildings and an enclosure. The positions of the buildings correspond well with the four buildings around the yard (including the possible fragment embedded in its SSE wall) and the two robbed structures to the NE, while the enclosure is shown to the NW of the yard. The 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Perthshire 1867, sheet lxix) depicts three buildings around the yard (BL00 702-4) and the two buildings to the NW (BL00 700-1), all five of them being shown roofed. The 2nd edition of that map (Perthshire 1900, sheet lxix NW) depicts the same five buildings as roofless.

The name Druim Reamhar is applied to this township on the 1st edition OS map. The name is not given on Farquharson's survey, when this was one of several settlements on the farm of Easter Kiltyrie, though as early as 1650 a tack was granted of the half merkland of Kiltyrie called Drumnarrea (National Archives of Scotland GD112/10/7 f295r).

(BL00 700-4, 2037, 2044-7, 2605)

Visited by RCAHMS (MFTR) 5 July 2000 and (SDB) 11 March 2004