Skye, Kraiknish

This group of six structures stands at a prominent and central location within the Kraiknish township (NG32SE 9). The principal building (NG 37015 23278), probably an 18th century tacksman’s house, stands at the SE end of what appears to be an earlier enclosure and is orientated up and down a gentle slope. It measures 15m from NNW to SSE by 5m transversely within a well-built stone-lined wall averaging 2m in thickness and up to 1.5m in height, pierced by a single entrance in the ENE wall with a bar-hole in the SSE jamb. The interior is choked with rubble and refuse, and the subdivision into three compartments represents the building’s last phase of use. A short stretch of wall that extends 4m E from the N side of the doorway is probably a wind-break, though it could well be founded upon the footers of the earlier enclosure. This building is flanked by additional buildings a few metres to the ENE and WSW respectively, the SSE end of the latter having been truncated by a modern farm track. A fourth building stands 15m to the SSW (NG 37013 23251), while a fifth (NG 37051 23237), some 40m to the SE, is attached to the E side of a large, thick-walled enclosure

Four unroofed buildings are depicted here on the 1st edition of the OS 6 inch map (Inverness-shire, Isle of Skye 1881, Sheet XLIII).

Visited by HES Survey and Recording (GFG) and Forestry Commission (MR) 31 August 2016.