Monument record MHG26119 - Crofting Township, Polglass

Thumbnail photo of building remains at Polglass
Wester Ross Project - Cathy Dagg, 02/04

NC00NW 25.00 centred on 0312 0738

NC00NW 25.01 Cottage: cruck-framed
------
The southern part of Achiltibuie, occupied by subtenants of Achiltuibuie in 1756. Two original areas of settlement: one immediately NE of Loch Poll an Dunain, one just north of the Allt a’ Bhaid-choille. The croft houses are all slightly below the road in a long street, and many are now abandoned. There is some new building along the road.
Wester Ross Project - Cathy Dagg, 23/03/04
------
The crofting township of Polglass occupies a strip of land between Achiltibuie, to the NW, and Badenscallie, to the SE. Many of the buildings on the crofts are still occupied but there are the remains of twenty three unroofed buildings and seven huts within the township, most of which are shown as roofed on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Cromartyshire 1881, sheet iii).
The buildings (ACHIL94 203-206, 208, 209, 211-213, 215-225, 227-229) are ranged across the hillside in a row at the back of a gently-sloping terrace some 60m to 90m to the WSW of the public road. They measure between 4m by 3.3m (ACHIL94 216) and 22.3m by 3.8m (ACHIL94 205) within faced-rubble footings up to 0.9m thick and 2.1m high. Seven of the buildings (ACHIL94 208, 213, 215, 218, 221, 224, 225) have clearly been dwellings with a fireplace and windows. There are opposed entrances in two of the buildings (ACHIL94 203, 206) which may have been barns. Cruck slots were visible in the walls of three buildings (ACHIL94 204, 213, 215).
The huts (ACHIL94 200-202, 207, 210, 214, 226) are scattered across the crofts and measure between 2.8m by 2.1m (ACHIL94 200) and 3.4m by 2.6m (ACHIL94 214) within faced-rubble footings or a stony bank up to 0.9m in thickness and 1.4m in height.
May (1758; SRO, RHP 85395) and Roy depict a cluster of buildings at about NC 036 071, of which there is now no trace. This settlement is named Poinuanan by Roy and labelled as 'Subtennants of Aicheltibuie' by May. A second cluster of buildings is depicted by May at NC 027 073, possibly in about the same location as two of the huts (ACHIL94 201, 202). There is no trace of the ridging shown by May and Roy in the strip of ground incorporated in the crofts. The layout of the croft boundaries show minor changes between the 1st and 2nd editions (Ross and Cromarty, 1906, sheet iii) and the current edition of the OS 1:10,000 map .
(ACHIL94 200-229)
Visited by RCAHMS (DCC) 20 June 1994
W Roy 1747-55