Brickigoe

ND34SW 312 ND 30155 44739

This farmstead comprises a cluster of five buildings, situated to either side of the farm track leading to Oliclate. In addition, a school is situated on the NE side of the steading, and a mill (ND34SW 287) is situated 130m to the NW.

Of the three buildings that lie immediately to the W of the track, the southernmost is a ruined range (YARROWS04 471), which stands on a slight slope dropping from WNW to ESE. The range measures 25m from ESE to WNW by 5m transversely over clay-bonded walls 1.4m in height. It contains three interconnected compartments, the largest of which was a byre at the ESE end in which a single upright flagstone stall divider is visible. Three cruck-slots are visible in the NNE wall, two in the central compartment and the third in the WNW compartment, where there is also an ambry in the wall.

The second building (YARROWS04 469), which is situated 14m N of the E end of the range, retains a thatch roof and remains in use. It measures 14m from N to S by 5.5m transversely overall. The entrance is in its E side, offset to the S, with one window to the S, and two to the N, one of which is blocked; there is also a single window in the middle of the W side. The third building (YARROWS04 470), which lies 12m N of the W end of the range, measures 10.6m from E to W by up to 5m transversely overall. The interior contains two compartments separated by a mid-gable containing a window towards its N end. The western compartment has an entrance at the E end of its S wall, and the eastern appears to be open-ended.

Of the two buildings of the farmstead that lie to the E of the track, the southern (YARROWS04 466) is unroofed and measures 11.5m from NNW to SSE by 5m transversely over roughly-coursed rubble walls. The building contains two compartments and the mid-gable has a doorway at its WSW end. The SSE compartment has a doorway and window in its WSW side and there is a fireplace in the SSE gable, with a cupboard recess to its WSW. A small garden plot enclosed by a drystone wall is situated immediately SE of the building, but nothing is now visible of the small outbuilding depicted immediately to the E on both the 1st and 2nd editions of the OS 6-inch map (Caithness 1877, sheet xxix; 1907, sheet xxix). The final building of the farmstead (YARROWS04 467), which remains in use, stands to the NW. It measures 26m from N to S by 5m transversely over mortared walls. The N gable has been rebuilt with breeze-blocks and is now roofed with corrugated iron sheets. There is a blocked entrance in the S gable and another in the E side. The latter also has single doors near each end, two small rectangular windows, and double-doors in the centre.

The school (YARROWS04 468; ND34SW 312), which is situated immediately NE of the building with double doors, is also partly in use. It measures 15.5m from E to W by 4.5m transversely over clay bonded walls and contains two compartments. The west compartment is unroofed and has had opposed entrances, though the one in the middle of the N wall is now blocked. There is also a small square window below the apex of its W gable. The E compartment has two doorways in its S side, one at the W end, the other in its centre and now converted into a window, and a second window lies a little further to the E. The E compartment is roofed with corrugated iron sheets, and, although the apex of the E gable has been rebuilt with breeze-blocks, two small ambries remain in the lower section of this wall. A blocked cruck-slot is visible in the N wall. A rubble platform at the W end of the building may represent the remains of an outshot.

A grass- and rush-grown hollow (YARROWS04 298), which is situated immediately E of the main track, may be a quarry, though it appears to have been developed into a duck pond. It measures 20m from NE to SW by 12m transversely and up to 1m in depth, and is linked to a system of open drains, ditches and springs.

Both the 1st and 2nd editions of the OS 6-inch map depict the farmstead roofed, and it is only the later map that annotates the building on the NE (YARROWS04 468) as a school.

(YARROWS04 298, 466-471)

Visited by RCAHMS (ATW) 12 August 2004