California
Farmstead (Post Medieval)
Site Name California
Classification Farmstead (Post Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Torr Knowe
Canmore ID 90577
Site Number NX55NW 34
NGR NX 5126 5601
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/90577
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Kirkmabreck
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Wigtown
- Former County Kirkcudbrightshire
Field Visit (9 February 1994)
NX55NW 34 5126 5601
This farmstead consists of three buildings grouped around a courtyard, with traces of a fourth building to the NE, set within a group of fields and small enclosures. The principal buildings (Cree94 66-8) form three sides of a subrectangular courtyard which is open to the WSW. The largest building, that on the ENE side of the yard (Cree94 67), measures 12.7m in length by 4.5m in breadth within mortared-rubble walls 0.6m thick, which stand 1.5m high. It has been divided into two compartments, connected internally, the larger, SSE, compartment having a door in its WSW wall and a window on the ENE. The buildings forming the two shorter sides of the yard both measure 11.7m in length by 4.8m in breadth, again within mortared rubble walls 0.6m thick. The walls of the building on the SSE side (Cree94 68) are generally up to 0.9m high, although it has a complete WSW gable, with a scarcement at a height of 1.9m, and it may have had a hanging lum. The building opposite this (Cree94 66) survives to a height of 2m, although the WSW gable has collapsed. It has an entrance in the centre of each side, and appears to have had a slit window to either side of each entrance, although only three remain, as the E half of the SSE side wall does not survive.
The remains of these buildings have been reused as a sheepfold, and parts of them have been rebuilt, particularly the ENE end of one building (Cree94 66) and the NNW end of a second building (Cree94 67). The gaps at the NE and SE corners of the yard have also been blocked with drystone rubble walls. To the NE of the yard there are traces of a fourth building, aligned NE-SW. It has been extensively robbed, but appears to have measured 16m in length.
All four of these buildings are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Kirkudbrightshire 1853, sheet 42), and two of them are shown roofed (Cree94 66, 68). The site is annotated 'California (in ruins)'.
(Cree94 66-8)
Visited by RCAHMS (SDB), 9 February 1994.
Aerial Photographic Interpretation (August 1996)
This farmstead is visible on vertical air photograph, (OS 77/083/027, flown 1977).
Information from RCAHMS (DE), August 1996.
