Rum, Harris

Photographed by J S Bone, 6 March 2005.

NM 33846 95909

The estate-built shepherd’s cottage at Harris is situated within the extensive remains of the pre-Clearance township (NM39NW 8), 250m to the NE of Harris Lodge (NM39NW 63).

The 3-bay cottage measures 9.1m from E to W by 5.9m overall and is built of harled rubble with dressed margins. Decoration of the masonry is limited to raised windowsills and plain string courses on the two gable stacks. The timber truss roof is slated in diminishing courses, and finished with barge boards; both gable eaves have been reduced later to be flush with the masonry. Little of the timber windows and internal fittings survive, but a three-room layout is discernible, with each of the end rooms furnished with a central fireplace and a press cupboard. The loft, presumably accessed by a ladder, has been timber lined and lit by cast-iron roof lights, one of which has been removed. An extension to the north has been replaced with a timber shed that still stands.

The building is not depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map surveyed in 1877, but it is shown on the 2nd edition revised in 1898 when it was part of a group of five roofed buildings (Argyllshire (Island of Rum) 1879-80, Sheet LXVI; Inverness-shire (Isle of Skye) Sheet LXVI 1903). It was probably built in 1890 for estate owner John Bullough, and similar buildings were constructed at the same time at Kinloch, Kilmory and Guirdil (Love 2001). An earlier shepherd’s cottage stands 70m to the E, at NM 3392 9590.

Visited by RCAHMS (GFG, IP) 23 August 2011.

Plan and elevation at 1:100

RCAHMS surveyed the estate cottage at Harris, Rum on 23 August 2011, producing a ground plan and elevation at a scale of 1:100. The plan and elevation were later used as the basis for an illustration produced in 2016 at a scale of 1:200.