Glencoul

NC23SE 1 NC 27056 30377

Glencoul is situated towards the SE end of Loch Glencoul about 5.2km from Kylesku. The bothy occupies a 3-bay cottage of early 20th century date attached at right angles to the NE gable of a 19th century farmhouse and is part of a farmstead that also includes at least two outbuildings and a sheepfold about 50m to the N, as well as a large walled enclosure to the E. They are not the earliest buildings at Glencoul and the remains of an 18th century township depicted on Roy’s Military Map (1747-55) and a large area of lazy bedding survive to the ENE (see NC23SE 1).

The 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Sutherland, sheet lx, 1878) shows the farmstead (but not the bothy) as well as the fragmentary elements of the township. There was little change by 1903, when the map was revised (Sutherland, sheet lx, 1906), indicating that the bothy must be later in date.

On the night of the 1881 Census the residents of Glencoul were shepherd John Mackay (57), his wife Mary (47) and their daughter Alexandra (19). Between 1895 and 1915 Valuation Rolls for Sutherland record the occupier of the house at Glencoul as John Eilliot, forester (i.e., deer forester or gamekeeper). The bothy was originally built as a schoolroom for the Elliot’s children (Allan 2017, 49; Press and Journal, 10 November 2014). Both the 1901 and 1911 Census list a teacher among the occupants at Glencoul, namely Johan Mackenzie and Euphemia Mackenzie respectively.

A roofed building annotate 'Glencoul (Bothy)' is depicted on the current OS raster map.

Information from HES Archaeological Survey (D M Bratt and G Geddes), 27 June 2022.