Gleann Beag, Cro Na H-airighe

This farmstead lies at the head of a gentle W-facing slope and is overlooked by higher ground and crags. It is the most northerly of a string of farmsteads (NO 17 SW 23, 24, 25), which are sited advantageously to capitalise upon the more easily cultivatable and alkaline-rich soils of the lowlying terraces in this part of the valley. The remains of at least six buildings are visible (A-F) in conjunction with a yard, together with a number of outbuildings, including a possible mill-site and three kilns. Some chronological depth is apparent. In part, the walls of the farmstead have been partially rebuilt, probably by the mid-19th century, to provide a fank; this gives a high visibility to the remains.

A. This, the principal building, may be the earliest component of the building-group. It is terraced into the slope on the W side of a yard and is rectangular on plan, of two compartments, and measures 10.4m from N to S by 5.3m transversely over stone wall-footings 0.8m in thickness and 0.4m in height.

B. A rectangular building to the S and end-on to (A) with which it shares a mutual end-wall measures 8.9m from N to S by 4.6m transversely over stone wall-footings 0.8m in thickness and 0.4m in height. A drainage-trench extends to the rear of both (A) and (B).

C. Set apart but end-on to (B), from which it is set slightly forward, there are the remains of a building measuring 8.7m from N to S by 5.5m transversely over turf-covered stone walls 0.8m in thickness and 0.4m in height.

D. Flanking the S side of the yard and end-on to the slope there is a rectangular building (10.2m from E to W by 4.9m transversely over stone walls 1m thick and 0.9m high) with a small enclosure on its S side (9.6m from E to W by 11m transversely internally); this enclosure cuts the angle of a second adjoining the SW side of the yard.

E. On the E side of the yard and terraced into the slope there are the remains of a two-compartment building (16.8m from N to S by 5m transversely over turf-covered stone walls 0.9m thick and 0.4m high) with an entrance to each compartment on the W; on the E there is a drainage-trench. The yard measures 32.7m from N to S by 16m transversely internally. On its N side there is a pen (16m from W to E by 1.3m transversely internally). The old head-dyke, now reduced to a low turf-covered bank, extends S from (E); a fragment of it survives to the N of the yard connecting with the Allt Creag Dubhaidh.

In the open ground between the burn, the old head-dyke and the yard there is a possible mill-site. A dry gully drops to this point from high up on the slopes adjoining Creag Dubheidh. The head of the gully has been canalised and there are traces of masonry-revetting and possible damming of the burn at NO 1308 7336; a wooden trough may have served to span the gap between the burn and the gully, which probably served as a lade. A second channel emits from the possible mill-site (the tail-race) and extends to the burn.

F. At the SE angle of the yard and set slightly upslope there is a rectangular building (9.5m from N to S by 4.3m transversely over turf-covered stone walls 1m thick and 0.3m high), with a drainage-trench on the E and a yard on the S (7m from N to S by 4.7m transversely within stone wall-footings 0.9m thick); an ancillary structure adjoining the N side of this yard (possibly a building or a pen) measures 5.2m from E to W by 3.3m transversely over stone wall-footings 0.9m in thickness. A track, which bifurcates close to the farmstead, leads upslope in a series of sweeping hairpins towards a second building and enclosure (G) and the shieling grounds beyond Creag Dubhaidh (NO 17 SW 81).

G. NO 1300 7317 A rectangular building (9.7m from N to S by 4.2m transversely over stone walls 0.7m thick and up to 0.4m high), with a drainage-hood on the E, lies on the SE side of an enclosure (16.2m from N to S by 6.8m internally).

H. At the NW angle of the enclosure adjoining the farmstead on the W, there are the well-preserved remains of a kiln whose bowl is 1.9m in diameter and at least 0.9m deep; the flue was on the W and opened to a chamber (4.2m from N to S by 3.7m transversely over turf-covered stone wall-footings) with an entrance central to its W wall. There are large tracts of rig-and-furrow and traces of field-clearance extending from the haughlands of the Allt a' Ghlinne Bhig upslope as far as the head-dyke (each rig measures 8m from crown-to-crown). At least eighteen clearance-cairns are visible including the wasted remains of a burial cairn (NO 17 SW 22).

I. NO 1281 7326 Set back into a low ridge there are the remains of a bowl-kiln. The bowl is 2.1m in diameter and at least 0.5m deep; the flue was on the W and was sheltered by a low baffle-wall.

J. NO 1263 7335 At the break of slope on the floodplain there are the remains of an enclosure, with an entrance on the W, measuring 5.5m from E to W by 4.5m transversely over stone walls 1.1m in thickness and 0.7m in height.

K. NO 1273 7318 Set in a slight depression at the break of slope to the SW of the farmstead there are the remains of a substantial bowl-kiln (now partially concealed by field-clearance). The bowl is 2.3m in diameter and more than 0.8m deep with a flue on the W.

L. NO 1277 7324 A rectangular building, partially concealed by field-clearance, measuring 7.6m from N to S by 5.2m transversely over boulder-footings 0.9m in thickness and up to 0.6m in height, with an entrance central to the S wall.

The shieling of Cro na choire is on record in 1561 (Atholl Muniments 23); the lands by 1664 (ibid.23). The farm is said to have belonged to the Mackenzies (later of Finegand) and was tenanted by the Ramsays' from about 1640 (headstone, Spittal burial-ground). It was sold, together with Gormel in 1770 and in 1880 became the property of Farquharson of Invercauld. In 1812 the small-holdings in Gleann Beag were cleared to form a single grazing (Miller 1929). The farmstead is depicted

and named Cronachorry by both Stobie (1783) and Ainslie (1794) and is shown as abandoned by Brown (1808), though it is still identified as the farm of Cro na herrie.

Visited by RCAHMS (IMS) 26 August 1987

RCAHMS 1990

NO17SW 21 1292 7327

Five unroofed buildings, annotated as ruins, and four enclosures are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Perthshire 1867, sheet xv). Nine unroofed buildings and three enclosures are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1973).

Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 17 November 1997.