Lochside

ND34SW 133 34533 43228 and 34524 43225

The remains of this farmstead are situated immediately E of the N end of Loch Sarclet. The principal building is a range (YARROWS04 550) measuring 25.2m from NNW to SSE by 5m transversely overall and the clay-bonded walls, which are 0.6m in thickness, still stand in places to wall-head height. The SSE part of the range is occupied by a cottage or dwelling, which has a central doorway and flanking windows in its WSW side and a small central window in the ENE, all blocked. Both the NNW and SSE gables of the dwelling have been completely rebuilt and the sidewalls have been raised with breeze blocks. An outshot attached to the NNW end of the range contains a single doorway in its WSW side, a small window in its ENE side, and a cupboard recess in the NNW end. Attached to the NNW end of the range is a second outshot, which has an entrance in its WSW side and a window in its ENE wall. Graffiti on the NW jamb of the door reads 'W.H. 1940'.

Immediately WSW of the central compartment of the range is what was probably a pig-sty (YARROWS04 551). The sty itself has clay-bonded stone walls up to 2m in height and a lectern-type corrugated tin roof with a shallow pitch. The entrance is on the ENE and opens into a pen constructed of breeze blocks. A trough is attached to the outside of the pen on the NNW.

The range is depicted roofed on both the 1st and 2nd editions of the OS 6-inch map (Caithness 1877, sheet xxix; 1907, sheet xxix), but neither map shows the pig-sty. Lochside is described in the Ordnance Survey Name Book (Caithness No. 13, p. 307) as 'a small district comprising a number of small farms and crofter's dwellings, the property of FS Bently Innes Esq'.

(YARROWS04 550, 551)

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, IF), 29 July 2004.