Lineside

ND34SW 295 31830 40591

A farmstead comprising one roofed long building and one unroofed building is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Caithness 1877, sheet xxix). Two roofed buildings are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:2500 map (1996).

Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 22 March 1996.

The ruins of this farmstead, which stand on the highest part of a field of improved pasture about 130m SSW of the former station master's house at Ulbster Station (ND34SW 268), comprise two buildings arranged in a T-shape. The southern (YARROWS04 763) forms the bar of the T and contains a cottage with an outshot attached to its W end. The cottage measures 12.5m from E to W by 4.5m transversely over walls 0.6m in thickness and standing to their full height. There is a central entrance and flanking windows in the S side, but a window in the N side indicates that in addition to the kitchen and parlour, there was once a third room at the rear of the house. The W side of this room was formed by a stone partition, which allowed the provision of a fireplace and there are also fireplaces in the gables forming the ends of both the main compartments. The internal faces of the walls are heavily plastered. The outshot has an entrance in its S side.

The building (YARROWS04 764) forming the shaft of the T on the N was probably also once a dwelling but was later converted to a byre or barn. It measures 7.6m from N to S by 5.4m transversely over walls 0.6m in thickness and these also stand to their full height. There are roughly opposed doorways on the E and W, the latter blocked, and in the N half of the interior there are also opposed windows. The N gable contains a central fireplace flanked by cupboards, and the S gable a doorway at its E end. S end of the W wall extends 2m to meet the S building.

As depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Caithness 1877, sheet xxix), only the S building is roofed, and a small garden enclosure is shown about 10m to the E. The depiction on the 2nd edition of the map (1907, sheet xxix) is similar, except by this time the garden had been removed and replaced by another about 10m to the S of the steading; neither garden is now visible. A midden hollow (YARROWS04 348) that lies immediately S of the range containing the cottage measures about 12m in diameter and up to 1m in depth on the N.

(YARROWS04 348, 763, 764)

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS) 26 August 2004