Brockloch

NX88SW 1.01 8026 8439

NX 8026 8439. 'Formerly a farmhouse, now {1855} a heap of ruins.'

Name Book (1855)

This farmstead is situated on a terrace in a semi-improved field amongst a series of conjoined fields defined by stony banks and lynchets. There are four buildings (one of which incorporates a small tower) and a kiln-barn.

The tower (Nith 54) forms the S half of the more easterly of two buildings and measures 4.5m from N to S by 4m transversely within stone footings up to 1.3m in thickness and 2m in height. The entrance is on the W, and there has been an outshot on the S end of the E wall. On the N side of the tower there is an outshot 6m in length and of less substantial construction, but also with an entrance on the W.

The second building (Nith 55) lies parallel to the tower, about 3m to the W, and measures 15.7m by 3.7m within stone footings 1m in thickness and 0.9m in height. It is of two compartments, both entered through the E wall, and has banks springing from the NW and SW corners. To the N of the parallel buildings there are the remains of a robbed building measuring 8.4m from E to W by 2.3m transversely within grass-grown footings 0.9m in thickness and 0.2m in height. There is an entrance on the S, and a small enclosure levelled into the slope on the N.

The fourth building (NX 8024 8438, Nith 57) lies across a steep slope to the W of the parallel pair and measures 9.2m from ENE to WSW by 4.1m transversely within stony footings 1m in thickness and 0.6m in height. There is an entrance on the SSE, and the building tapers slightly towards the ENE.

The kiln and its barn (NX 8021 8439, Nith 58) are built into, and on, a terrace edge to the W of the buildings and comprises a bowl 2.8m in diameter and 1.8m in depth, with a flue to the SSW. The barn lies on the NNE side of the kiln-bowl and was entered from the ESE.

The field-system lies to the E, S and W of the farmstead and comprises a series of conjoined irregularly-shaped fields, some of which appear to have been cultivated (faint ridging is visible in low light and on aerial photographs), while others appear to define areas of uncleared ground, littered with boulders. The downslope sides of most of the fields are defined by lynchets up to 1.5m in height, generally with a retaining wall running along the crest. To the N of the farmstead and the modern drystone wall, there is a field which may belong to the same system and, on the E side of this, an arcuate head-dyke running off to the NE and enclosing cultivation ridges which are progressively fainter to the E due to improvement. This cultivation may well be later than the irregularly-shaped fields, and may immediately predate the drystone walls. Faint unenclosed cultivation ridges are visible across the terrace to the N of the farmstead, apparently later than the small cairns and clearance banks (NX88SW 1.05), and may fall into the same general period as the farmstead.

(Nith 54-58)

Visited by RCAHMS (DCC) 28 August 1991

RCAHMS surveyed the farmstead at Brockloch (NX88SW 1.01) on 26 March 1992 at a scale of 1:500. The resultant plan was redrawn in ink and published at a scale of 1:1000 (RCAHMS 1994a, Fig.11).

Annotated Brocklock (Ruins), two unroofed buildings, a series of four conjoined unroofed structures, some of which may be buildings, and an incomplete enclosure, are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Dumfriesshire 1860, sheet xxxix). One unroofed building and one enclosure, both marked by pecked lines, are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1982).

Information from RCAHMS (SAH) 20 June 2000