Borrobol

NC82NE 55 873 264.

This township comprises at least three buildings and several small enclosures on either side of Borrobol Halt. The 1st edition OS six-inch map, (Sutherlandshire 1871, sheet lxvi) shows a scattered group of six buildings and a similar number of enclosures on the haughland between the Borrobol Burn and the River Helmsdale, of which only one building to the E of the railway line could be recognised at the date of visit, but a possible building-stance is visible to the SW of a square enclosure at NC 8716 2641. The buildings measure between 17.3m and 27m in length and between 2.9m and 3.5m in breadth, but are much reduced, with only the two to the S of the track and E of the railway line, standing to as much as 0.3m in height.

The lands of the township of Borrobol were let by the Abbey of Scone with the Kirk of Kildonan to Robert and David of Sutherland for two years in 1332 (Lib Eccles de Scone 120) and may have formed the kirklands of the Kildonan, which were granted to the Abbey in the 13th century (op cit 67). After the Reformation Borrobol was part of a grant of lands by Queen Mary in 1563 (Reg Sec Sig 1556-1567) and there were eleven tenants, each with one hearth, listed in the Hearth tax return of 1690 (SRO E69/23/1). By 1808 the farm was split into four parts, Dalcharn, Balnashawn, Balvullin and Eachter, of which all but Dalcharn were cleared by 1816 (Adam 1972).

(KILD91 463-465)

Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 16 July 1991.