Langstane

ND34SW 343 ND 32540 42125

The remains of this cottage are situated on a terrace in a field of improved pasture about 430m NNE of Langstane and 30m W of the A99(T) public road. It measures 12.25m from E to W by 4.3m transversely within clay-bonded walls 0.6m in thickness and up to 2.5m in height. The interior contains two compartments, which have been heavily modified. A tall, corrugated iron-sheet door has been inserted into the W gable and the roofline of the W compartment has been raised to accommodate agricultural vehicles. The new, lectern roof, which slopes down to the N, is also clad with corrugated iron. The E compartment has been converted into a store with a doorway offset to the W and a window near the E end of the S side. Although this compartment retains the original ridged roofline and a rotting dormer window on the N, its roof is clad in corrugated asbestos sheets. The two compartments have been constructed on slightly different alignments, but these were originally linked by a blocked doorway at the S end of the partition. The E compartment was evidently used as a dwelling and has one fireplace in the E gable, and possibly a second in the partition, where a large lintel is obscured by some of the clutter within the interior. The only feature visible in the W compartment is a blocked creep in the N wall.

The cottage is depicted roofed on both the 1st and 2nd editions of the OS 6-inch map (Caithness 1877, sheet xxix; 1907, sheet xxix).

(YARROWS04 161)

Visited by RCAHMS (ATW) 29 June 2004