Escorted Tours

Failte gu Fuadach nan Gaidhealt na h-Alba

Failte gu Fuadach nan Gaidhealt na h-Alba.
The Highland Clearances were a devestating part of the history of Scotland. For many it changed not only their way of life but also shaped the rural future of Scotland. Many villagers suffered at the hands of their landlords and tackmen and fought a desperate struggle to find a new life. Others managed to propser in a new life that never saw them return to Scotland again. Here is a resource that supports the documentation and historical value of this important area of Scottish history. You can follow in the footsteps of these villagers and find detailed descriptions and locations of the remains of some of the villages and townships through site descriptions, photographs and suggestions for further reading and links to follow.




Friday 20 January 2012

Pitleoch. Lower Pitleoch Farmstead

Copyright. Crown.
On the way back from Salachill, returning to the car, there are one or two small farmsteads and outbuildings doted along the way. There is the large Pitleoch Farm that stands prominantly on the hill and is hard to miss. Whilst prominant, this does not attract my attention but directs me south east of this location towards the path and an old farm stead and various outbuildings located on a slight terrace next to the path.



Copyright: NLS.
This is an interesting site in that it is situated next an artributary of the Ballinloan Burn. Identified on a terrace about 100m W of the Pitleoch Burn, this farmstead comprises of a roofed farmhouse, a cruck-roofed barn that is now used to store stock and materials. There is a horse-engine platform on the WNW, and identifieable traces of other buildings.

Building remains
 With the exception of the farmhouse, the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map  depicts all the farmstead buildings as roofed; however, two of the buildings recorded during a survey carried out in 1993 occupy the site of a single roofed-structure shown on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map, but the 2nd edition depicts two buildings on the same alignment  which may be those identified in fieldwork.

The site of the building depicted on the 1st edition map may be indicated by a building-platform to the ESE of building.  Of the unroofed buildings, two are reduced to platforms. One was a barn with a horse-engine platform on its E side, 6.5m across, with a groove for a drive-shaft; the second is reduced to footings 0.5m high. The remaining buildings are ina relatively good state but are subcimmung to the ravages of the weather and geography of the area.

They range in size from 9.6m to 33m in length by between 3.6m and 4.3m in breadth, within faced-rubble walls ranging from 0.55m to 0.9m thick and standing to between 1m and 2.2m in height. Fireplaces are  visible in two of the buildings . The longest building is sub-divided into four compartments and but displays traces of alteration, with a blocked door, two inserted partitions and there is evidence of later mortar repairs to the stonework

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