Burnside

ND34SW 181 ND 32329 44442

The remains of this farmstead are situated in an area of rough pasture about 580m SW of Thrumster Mill (ND34SW 271). The farmstead comprises a long range containing three compartments. The walls measure 0.6m in thickness and survive to their full height everywhere except at the NE end, where the corners and the gable have been removed. The NE compartment has been a dwelling, with two windows on the NW and one on the SE, though this is now blocked. The mid-gable of this compartment contains a central fireplace, with a cupboard to the NW and a doorway into the adjacent compartment to the SE. This small compartment has a window in its NW side and a fireplace in the partition wall it shares with the SW compartment. The long SW compartment has three entrances, two of which are opposed close to the SW end, and the third is in the SE side, towards the NE. There is no evidence for any cruck-slots in the walls of the range and the present roof is a relatively modern A-frame construction with a corrugated steel cladding. Burnside is described in the Ordnance Survey Name Book (Caithness No. 13, p. 244) as 'a small crofter's dwelling on the Thrumster estate, belonging to Mrs B Innes'.

(YARROWS04 625)

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS) 11 August 2004.