Clashmore

SRP Clashmore township survey

CLASHMORE, ASSYNT

Township centred on NC 0360 3110

Clashmore township lies on an arc of southwest, south and southeast facing sloping ground above Loch na Claise and between 20m and 70m above sea level.

The northeast part of the site is divided into large rectangular fields created by the Sutherland Estate as a model farm in the 1870’s. Home’s survey of 1774 and contemporary records indicate that the model farm destroyed the bulk of the earlier township and the population was moved onto new crofts to the southwest. However in the northwest fields of the model farm and across a nameless burn to the southeast the footings of several smallholdings, consisting of a house and one or more outbuildings within an enclosure survive, together with some field boundaries and other structures. Smallholdings K, L, M, N, O, P and structure J lie in the northwest fields of the model farm, whereas smallholdings A, C, D, F, complex B and buildings E and G lie to the south east across a burn from the main areas of settlement. The latter group of structures generally have several courses of walling surviving whereas those to the northwest are little more than ridges and mounds with a few odd stones. The majority of the buildings are not marked on Home’s map but first appear as roofed structures on the 1st edition of the OS 6 inch map. However they are either unroofed or unrecorded on the 2nd edition suggesting that they were mainly built in the first half of the nineteenth century as the earlier settlement expanded and the first crofts laid out in the 1840's, and taken out of use after the construction of the model farm.

One typical smallholding (A) was surveyed in detail at 1:100 and all the similar units measured, sketched and compared with this one. Two non-typical complexes were also surveyed in detail, B at 1:100 and C at 1:200. In addition a small cottar house on the far northwest edge of the settlement (T), which was later converted into a fank, was also surveyed at 1:100.

Smallholding A NC 03852 31009 comprises three buildings (A1-A3) aligned ENE/WSW and an associated enclosure (A4)

A1 The footings of a rectangular house of three compartments with an interconnecting doorway (A1.4) between compartments A1.1 and A1.2. The building is built of natural and roughly dressed stone with clay mortar and the internal walls appear to be original and of the same construction. Compartment A2 (3.75x4m internally) has a drain across the middle and is assumed to be a byre. There are signs of a possible external doorway (A1.5) opening into A1.2 close to the interconnecting doorway, which would give access to the living space (A1.1) which is 4.5 x 4m internally. The western compartment (A1.3) has only a few signs of a wall to the north side but a solid internal wall running parallel to the side walls (overall internal space 5.5x4m with inner partitioned space 3x2.5m internally). A1.3 could have been a stable with largely timber north wall and internal stone built stall. None of the gable walls have any signs of fire-places or chimneys and it is assumed that the house had a ‘hanging lum’ of some kind.

A2 To the southeast of the house are the footings of a drystone, roughly rectangular structure (9x3.25m internally) with a very clear drain (A2.1) running out from under its eastern wall and down a slope. This is interpreted as a later byre replacing or supplementing the one originally included in the house.

A3 To the west of the house are the footings of a sub-rectangular outbuilding 6x3.5m internally. It’s west wall was clearly revetted and constructed using large stones, but the other walls have little or no sign of stonework and may therefore have been of turf, wattle or timber. The structure has a central doorway (A3.1) facing southeast and is divided into three internally by two insubstantial partitions which would appear to indicate stalls (A3.2) Buried in the middle of the structure is a modern iron girder approx 2m long (A3.3).

The house, byre and an area of land to the south are enclosed within a boundary dyke to create enclosure A4. This is cut through by ‘the school walk’ (A5) a pathway created by the parents of Clashmore for their children to get to the new school built at Stoer in the 1890’s. A drain (A6) between the house and the eastern end of the enclosure and enclosure dyke appears to have breached the wall of A1 at A1.6. It may have been constructed at the same time as A5 to compensate for changes in drainage or perhaps A1.1 was used as a byre for a time after being abandoned as a house and A1.6 was it’s doorway.

Complex B NC 03820 30990 consists of a single rectangular building (B2) aligned NE/SW with two extensions (B1 & B3) at right angles to the longer sides, and an associated enclosure (B4).

The structures B1, 2 & 3 lie alongside the nameless burn to the south east of the township and are not marked on either editions of the OS 6 inch map. However Home’s map does show one building across and beside this burn on what could be this site. The whole site has been used as a dump for stone and much of B2 is buried under a large spoil heap.

B2 The fragmentary and partially buried stone footings of a substantial and well built rectangular building with an internal space 4m across and possibly 12m long with signs of two internal partitions (B2.2, B2.3). Neither partition appears to extend the full width of the building and both consist of a single line of stones, some very small. B2.3 is particularly insubstantial. What might be an entrance, or merely an eroded section of walling (B2.1), faces the burn. Two thirds of the structure is buried beneath the later spoil heap (B2.4). This is interpreted as a longhouse with wicker or timber partitions anchored by stones, but with no clear evidence to indicate the construction of the upper parts of the outer walls. This supports the view that this is the building marked on Home’s map, and would appear to be the only survival from that period to have left any visible remains.

B1 Adjoining B2 at the eastern end of its north wall is a roughly semicircular mound of stone tumbling down into the burn on one side and merging into the spoil heap (B2.4) on the other. In dry conditions it is clear that the burn sinks underground 10m to the northeast, flows underground (B1.3) and re-emerges beyond the mound at B1.4. In wetter conditions B1.5 acts as an overflow channel. In the top of the mound are two adjoining depressions (B1.1 & B1.2) of which B1.1 is the larger. Although no mill-stones are visible it seems clear that this is an horizontal mill with a culvert (B1.3), working platform (B1.1) and the site of the mill stones and machinery (B1.2).

B3 Also barely distinguishable from the spoil heap and close to the centre of the south wall of B2 there is a concave depression roughly 2m in diameter lined with large stones and with a long, partially covered channel extending well over 1m south east. It appears to be a drying kiln and to the south west there is a small adjoining enclosure (B3.2). The amount of dumped stone makes it impossible to clarify whether the kiln was built against or a short distance from the wall of B2

B4 Fragments of dry-stone walling with clearance heaps (B4.1) indicate the remains of a sub circular enclosure linked to the southern corner of B2 and extending east and northeast to join the corner of the more substantial enclosure (B8) associated with smallholding A.

B5 & B6 Some possible foundations of structures across the burn from the mill emerge from under the massive model farm dyke (B8) of the 1870’s but nothing remains on the other side of B8 to help interpret these remains.

If B2 is the building shown on Home’s map then the fact that nothing survived to be recorded by the time of the first OS survey a century later suggests that B2 may well have gone out of use shortly after Home’s visit. The Sutherland Estate, which acquired Assynt in the mid eighteenth century, moved quickly to limit the number of mills in Assynt, and there is no record of an officially permitted mill at Clashmore before that created as part of model farm in the 1870’s. It seems possible that B1, 2 & 3 represent the remains of a mill, mill-house and drying kiln dating from before 1750, but if this is the case then it is unique in Assynt where all other mills are free-standing structures and there are no records of millers. Alternatively the mill and kiln could have been created unofficially in the 19th century after the earlier house had gone out of use. It is however unlikely that the estate would have been unaware of such a development or would have allowed it to continue.

Smallholding C NC 03912 30998 consists of a house, a yard with several small structures and large amounts of stacked stone, a probable garden area, all aligned NNE/SSW and an associated enclosure rising steeply to the southeast and surrounded by a markedly high, wide dyke.

C1 The lower courses of a clay-mortared, stone built house of three compartments, the dividing walls contemporary and of the same construction as the outer walls. C1.1 is a small press (5x3m internally) with external doorway (C1.4) and at right angles to it the doorway (C1.5) into C1.2, the main living area (10x5m internally). Compartment C1.3 is roughly 5m square and does not connect to the other rooms but has a possible external doorway (C1.6). In the end gable wall there is stone-lined semicircular recess (C1.7) which could have been a forge. It is of similar depth to the wall thickness and the outer face of the gable wall bulges noticeably to accommodate it. Both the gable and northwest walls have survived far less well than the others. It is thus possible that feature C1.7 was inserted after these walls had been reduced in height to create an external work area rather than a room.

C2 To the south-southwest of the house and lying at a lower level is a yard area roughly 20m square, bounded by dry-stone walling. Within it are several curious features. C2.1 is a rectangular dry-stone outbuilding approx 8x5m internally with an entrance into the yard. Its front and side walls still stand to a few courses but the back wall is an amorphous mass of stone tumbling into C3. The whole interior is full of more stone than might be expected from the collapse of the walls alone. C2.2 is an rouhg dry-stone wall projecting from the yard wall and then curving round to enclose an irregular space full of stone. C2.3 appears to be the low remains of a stack of stone and C2.4 is similar although on two sides the stacked stones look like wall foundations meeting at a corner. At C2.5 stone has been carefully stacked against the house wall and at least two faces are visible in spite of subsequent collapse. There is similar stacking at C2.6 but here it is obscured by the collapse into the yard of the side of the massive mound of stone (C4) just outside the yard.

C4 A mound of stone between 15 and 20m across at the base and standing 3m high when viewed from the west. In the top are two shallow hollows and at C4.1 some stones have been arranged to create a small shelter. On the west side at C4.2 careful revetting of the mound can be observed.

C5 The enclosure dyke is a continuation of C4 and although lower than the mound is both higher and wider than most other dykes in the township. Although partially collapsed at various points it is 6m wide and 2m high at C5.1, reduces steadily as it rises up the hill to C5.4 where it is only 0.5m high, but at both C5.5 and C5.7 it is 1.10m high.

C3 An enclosed area, possibly a garden, lies in front of the house with a pathway (C3.1) heading northwest (cut through later by the school walk). C3.2 is a slightly higher terrace with a possible paved area immediately in front of C1.3 and a possible gateway into the main enclosure at C1.8.

The amount of surplus stone and the evidence of careful stacking is a puzzle. However the censuses of 1851, 1861 & 1871 all record Kenneth Graham, a mason, living in Clashmore. From 1881 onwards he lived is recorded in Maol Bhane, an area given over to those moved from Clashmore after the construction of the model farm. The latter house survives and there are signs of carefully stacked stone, though much less than on this site. Smallholding C is therefore interpreted as the probable house, yard, garden and field of the mason Kenneth Graham.

Smallholdings D, F, K, L, M, N, O and P, Structures G and J

The eight smallholdings, D and F to the east of the burn by the mill (centred on NC 03800 30900), the majority in the field to the northwest (centred on NC 03500 31200) are broadly similar to smallholding A. They consist of a house with one or more outbuildings, usually attached to and on the same alignment as the house, and an enclosure. All of the buildings are aligned NE – SW with gable ends to the prevailing wind and with doorways facing SE.

The main buildings at D, and to a lesser extent at F, stand several courses high, but all of the smallholdings in the northwest fields appear to have been systematically demolished leaving only mounded outlines over the stones of the lowest courses. None of the buildings is wider than 4.5m internally, though the average internal room length is 6m. All of the houses and most of the outbuildings were well-built, rectangular structures of stone with clay mortar. The houses consisted of either two or three compartments, and in some cases at least one of these may have been a byre. None seem to have had fireplaces in the gable walls. In all cases where the buildings are on a single alignment the back wall line is common to all of the structures. However the house is usually wider than the attached outbuildings, which may themselves vary in width, such that the front walls of each assemblage would have presented a stepped appearance.

The house on smallholding F is sited very close to Loch na Claise on what is now very waterlogged ground suggesting that it was built at a period when the artificial outflow channel from the Loch was maintained at a lower level than today. The southwest gable of the house has been incorporated in one of the field dykes of the model farm. To the south east of the house is structure G, a small roughly square dry stone building measuring 1.5 x 2m internally. It is attached to an enclosure and has been crudely modified above the lowest two courses. It could have been an outbuilding of smallholding F later turned into a pen.

Smallholding N has a longer main building complex than average, with a northerly extension on the southwest end of the building line, what might be a drying kiln a few metres to the SE and a small outbuilding across the enclosure from the main structures. Not enough survives above ground to interpret this further.

Structure J is probably the byrehouse of a similar smallholding but very little survives and its footprint has been used as a clearance cairn

Structure E (NC 04029 31140) consists of a single substantial stone built rectangular structure aligned NNE-SSW.

It measures 12 x 4.5m internally, survives only one course above ground and shows no signs of internal walls. The entrance is in the centre of the northwest long wall. No outbuildings or enclosures are associated with it. Uniquely in Clashmore it has been respected by the model farm dyke which detours around it. The story locally is that when the model farm was being created the house was occupied by a lady with a reputation as a witch and so no one dared try and evict her and demolish the house. The substantial outer walls, lack of internal stone divisions and central doorway suggest that the house followed the standard later nineteenth century croft house pattern with wooden internal divisions. Most of the surviving croft houses built at Clashmore immediately after the creation of the model farm are of this type, so perhaps this house was very new at the time the model farm was created.

Structure H (NC 03840 31150) is a clapper bridge. It is well built and survives in good condition and regular use. The stonework resembles the model farm dyke work and so probably dates from the 1870’s, but it is on the site of an older bridge from the main settlement to the mill.

Complex T (NC 02889 31750) lies on the northwest edge of the former Allt an Ruan Shieling which had recently been incorporated into the township arable at the time of Home’s survey. It consists of what is interpreted as a cottar house (T1) with extensions (T2-4) aligned NE-SW and standing almost to eaves height throughout, two associated enclosures (T7) and another structure (T5). In the middle years of the twentieth century the complex was used as a Fank. It does not appear on the 1st edition of the OS 6inch map but is on the 2nd edition so presumably dates from between 1875 and 1903.

T1 measures approximately 5 x 3.3metres internally but only in the western corner do the walls meet in a right angle. In the SE wall there is a blocked window (T1.2) and a doorway with a surviving, but fallen, wooden door post (T1.8). Internally the stub of a cruck beam (T1.3) survives about half way along the SE wall close to the window, and a slot is visible in the opposite wall (T1.4). Three upright timbers also survive internally (T1.5, 1.6, 1.7) They could be the remains of internal partitions dating to the period when the building was occupied, or they may date to the period when it was used as a fank.

T2, T3 and T4 consist of successive extensions to the house. The NW wall of T2 is stepped back from the line of the house and angled very slightly further north whereas the SE wall starts off in line with the house wall but is angled inwards creating a space which is 3m wide at its SW end tapering to 2.75m. T2 has no external doorway or window and the internal doorway from T1 close to the upright timber T1.7 shows clear signs of having been knocked through an existing wall. Another doorway (T2.1) has been created through the centre of the gable wall of T2 into a second extension (T3). There are a pair of door or gateposts in this doorway. T3 has a blocked external doorway in its SE wall(T3.1). Like T2 this second extension is also aligned a little further north and the compartment created tapers towards the NE. The same is true of the final larger extension (T4) and this creates an overall plan which is banana shaped. T4 has no doorway into T3 and a still open external doorway in the SE wall (T4.1). It seems probable that the original single cell cottar house (T1) was extended to create a second room (T2) and that the NE gable wall was knocked through to facilitate entry. Extensions T3 and T4 seem originally to have had external doorways and to have served as outbuildings. The blocking of doorway T3.1 and the creation of another at T2.1 is assumed to date from the period when the structure was converted into a fank. T4 appears never to have been part of the fank complex.

T5 is better built than the cottar house but much less of it survives. The lower two or three courses are of squared masonry laid in clay mortar. Rather more of the S gable survives to indicate well-coursed masonry continuing upwards. T5 has two compartments with a substantial dividing wall which probably had a central interconnecting doorway. The N compartment (T5.1) is the larger at 5 x 4m and the smaller compartment (T5.3) is 3 x 4m. The central doorway in the NE wall (T5.2) enters directly into T5.1. This structure is interpreted as a later house replacing T1-2 which probably became an outbuilding at that point.

The 2nd edition OS 6inch map shows T1-4 and T5 linked by an enclosing dyke. It is possible that the degraded dyke T6 and the NE and SE sections of dyke T7 surrounding enclosure T7.1 survive from that enclosing dyke and that the present arrangements of two smaller enclosures (T7.1 & T7.2) with gateways and gateposts at T7.3 and T7.4 represent the rebuilding of the dykes when the complex was converted into a fank.

Sometime early in the 20th century a more substantial house was built a few metres to the south and is still in use. The use of complex T as a fank is thought to date back to the 1930’s or earlier. So if complex T did not exist in 1875 when the OS first surveyed the area, but all of it existed by 1905 when the maps were revised, and it was converted into a fank in the 1930’s at the lates the neither the cottar house nor its replacement (T5) can have been in use for more than about 30 years.

Signs of cultivation are to be found in various parts of Clashmore. Remnant lazy beds lie in the Alt an Ruan shieling area to the S and E of complex T and in the series of enclosed fields south of structures A – D. In the large field which adjoins the NE corner of Loch na Claise (where the bulk of the former township lay before the creation of the model farm) are a series of ploughed terraces running NW – SE. These were created after the demise of the model farm when the field was shared out between several different crofts.

Gordon Sleight

Historic Assynt

A detailed archaeological desk-based assessment and walkover survey was carried out in advance of replacement of water mains and associated works, between Clashmore and Raffin, Sutherland, Highland. The work was undertaken to assess the nature and extent of any archaeological sites likely to be affected within the areas outlined for the proposed development works and pipeline route and in order to inform recommendations for the protection and management of any sites recovered. The desk-based assessment identified a significant number of archaeological sites in close proximity to the proposed works, while a number of new sites were recorded during the walkover survey. The sites included boundary and enclosure dykes, clearance cairns, and structures of post-medieval date. Mitigation measures are proposed to safeguard the sites during the establishment of the proposed works.

information from OASIS ID: westcoas1-347326 (S Birch) 2019