Monument record MHG20723 - Farmstead and enclosure, Gallow Hill

A farmstead, comprising one partially roofed building, one unroofed building and an enclosure is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Ross-shire, Cromartyshire & Nairnshire 1881, sheet lxxxviii). One unroofed building is shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1992).
Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 12 March 1996.

Farmstead marked on 1st ed OS, wider area to S also called Gallow Hill, but no obvious Gallows site depicted. - HAW 11/2002

This site was surveyed as part of a project investigating possible distillery sites in the area of Mulchaich. The text of the gazetteer entry is reproduced below and the survey plan is linked to this record, along with the full project report:

This site is situated in rough marshy ground at the upper end of a field 400m to the S of Mulchaich Farm. It has a NW aspect and is surrounded by intensively farmed land. The site is on a terrace which is roughly 50m2. Much of the ground is marshy, there being two possible wells in the south part; the one in the SE corner appears to be deeply excavated. An excavated earth face at the south end of the site is up to 3m in height and may have been a quarry – two large boulders lie in front of the face. The site comprises the stone footings of two buildings, the main one quite complex and the other much more wasted, two enclosure and two wells. The 1st Edition OS survey has two buildings, one enclosure and “wells” marked. The SW compartment of the building is marked as being roofed. The site has been previously recorded during the FESP project of 1998.

buildings which may or may not be contiguous. The larger south building is more substantial and has two compartments and the smaller building on the same alignment may be a byre. Both sit on a levelled terrace which has significant underbuild on the lower side and a slope of between 0.5m and 0.9m immediately to the NW. The main compartment of the south building measures 9m x 4.2m internally and has wall footings of turf covered stonework which are generally 0.6m thick and between 0,2m and 0.3m high. The SW end wall is 1.4m thick and the NE end wall is 0.9m high. The smaller compartment to the NE is at a level 0.5m higher; it measures 4.5m x 3.8m internally and has the stone footings of a small compartment measuring 1.8m x 2.5m within it. There is a wide entrance in the SE wall which is mostly tumble. The contiguous building to the NE measures 4.2m x 3.5m internally and is less well preserved having stone walls of just 0.2m height. The NE wall and the wide entrance here have become water-logged.

The smaller wasted building to the east is on a NNW-SSE alignment and is less well preserved with stone walls that are not continuous. It measures 14m x 5m overall although it narrows at the SE end where the walls are quite substantial and 0.7m high. The walls are generally low and 0.7m thick although the spread of the NE wall is 1.2m, and the height here is 0.3-0.4m. There are two entrances in the SW wall, the north one being 2.6m wide and waterlogged.

The enclosure abuts the main building to its SW and measures 20m x 25m. It is surrounded on its east side by turf covered stone footings, 0.7m thick and generally 0.4m high, on its lower NW side by a turf edge and on its SW side by a small burn with a short steep slope containing the burn. <1>