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Ellensgoe
Farmstead (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Ellensgoe
Classification Farmstead (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 270822
Site Number ND34SW 176
NGR ND 32544 40848
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/270822
- Council Highland
- Parish Wick
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Caithness
- Former County Caithness
ND34SW 176 32544 40848
The remains of this farmstead, which comprise two buildings still standing to their full height, are situated in a field of pasture about 190m E of Braehead farmsteading. The NE building (YARROWS04 747) is a range measuring 25.8m from NW to SE by 4.9m transversely over clay-bonded walls 0.6m in thickness. It contains four compartments of which the central two appear to have formed a dwelling linked by a doorway in the shared mid-gable. The NW part of the dwelling has a window in its SW side, and a fireplace in its NW gable, while the SE part has a cupboard in its NW end, a window in its SW side, and an opposed pair of cruck-slots. A doorway in the SW end of the shared gable at the SE end led into what was probably a byre, and a cruck is incorporated into the partition at its NE end. There is an external door into the byre at the NW end of its SW side. The compartment at the opposite end of the range was probably a stable, with a doorway at the SE end of its SW side. Two cruck-slots are visible in the NE wall, and one in the SW wall. What may be the masonry of a kiln has been incorporated into the SW end of the NW gable of the range. The rounded shape of the earlier stonework is clearly visible on the outside face of the building, though nothing of it can be seen in the interior.
The second building (YARROWS04 748) stands immediately SW of the range, and measures 5.9m from NW to SE by 4.9m transversely overall. An entrance in the SW wall is offset to the NW and in the inner face of this wall there are two small ambries.
Immediately to the NW of the long range there is a rectangular stony platform (YARROWS04 749) that may be a stack stand or possibly the base of a timber building. It measures 6.9m from NE to SW by 2.8m transversely and 0.3m in height over a kerb of boulders, some of which are set on edge.
The steading is depicted roofed on both the 1st and 2nd editions of the OS 6-inch map (Caithness 1877, sheet xxix; 1907, sheet xxix), but in each depiction the buildings have been linked to form an L-plan arrangement. Ellensgoe is described in the Ordnance Survey Name Book (Caithness No. 13, p. 284) as 'A Crofter's dwelling occupied by Mr Henderson and S Miller, the property of A Sharpe Esq.'.
(YARROWS04 747, 748, 749)
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 26 August 2004.
