Lochside

ND34SW 134 34444 43195

The remains of this farmstead, which comprise a roofless range standing up to its wall-heads, are situated immediately E of the N end of Loch Sarclet. The range measures 17.9m from NE to SW by 5m transversely over clay-bonded drystone walls 0.6m in thickness and the SW end is occupied by a cottage, which has a central doorway and flanking windows on the SE and a small central window on the NW. There is a collapsed chimney at the SW end, to the right of which is a cupboard recess with a wooden lintel. The NE end of the cottage has also collapsed but it, too, probably contained a fireplace together with a blocked doorway into the central compartment of the range, which was probably a byre, with an external doorway in the centre of its SE side. The NE end of the range is occupied by what was probably a stable, with a single entrance in its SE side.

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). 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 549)

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, IF) 29 July 2004