Highknowe

This ruined farmstead comprises an 18th or early 19th cottage standing on the SE side of a rectangular enclosure, with a late 19th century cottage standing immediately NE of its predecessor. The earlier cottage has been converted to accommodate stock. The structure was not entered on the date of visit, but evidently a number of partitions or sub-divisions have been added and the central part now has a makeshift roof. The later cottage has one storey, with an entrance and flanking windows in its SE side and a central window on the NW. There is a fireplace at either end, that on the SW containing a sway.

The farmstead sits on the crest of a ridge which drops sharply to a stream on the S and E and more gently to the edge of unimproved moorland to the N. The W part of the farm lay outside the 2010 RCAHMS survey area. Both sides of the ridge have been improved and were originally enclosed by a stone wall, though this has largely been superseded by a post-and-wire fence. Within the improved area, in addition to both closed and open drains, there are a number of low scarps and terraces that provide evidence of former cultivation.

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, ARG) 10 June 2010.