Monument record MHG28245 - Allt Bad a' Chrasgaidh

NC70SW 104 7453 0260

On the upper reaches of the Allt Bad a' Chrasgaidh there are the remains of an extensive, but somewhat dispersed, township, a sheepfold and three burnt mounds (NC70SW 144).
This township comprises a group of at least seven farmsteads, their adjacent field-systems, and several patches of rig, which are disposed over a distance of 800m from E to W by 600m transversely in the heather- and bracken-covered slopes on the E and W banks of the head-waters of the Allt Bad a' Chrasgaidh.
There are eighteen buildings scattered across the township, which measure from 4.6m to 24.6m in length by 4m to 5m in breadth internally. For the most part the walls are of stone and, where best preserved, are rubble-faced, elsewhere they have been reduced to stony banks; in two instances, however, the walls are of turf (ROG95 246 and 248). Six of the buildings are less than 10m long, seven measure between 10m and 15m, and four exceed 15m. Three of the longer buildings are sub-divided into two compartments (ROG95 244, 247 and 252), and one has a large extension (ROG95 406). External entrances, where visible, are in one side (ROG95 235-6, 241, 247, 251-3, 406, 532), but one has an entrance in one end (ROG95 531), but this is a very small structure (2.8m by 2.4m internally), attached to the side of an enclosure, on which much clearance has been spread. One of the two-compartment buildings was of particular interest. It displayed unequivocal signs of a byre-drain in the SE side of the lower end of the SW compartment. The entrance to the building, which lies midway along the SW compartment, provides immediate access to the byre to the SW and, via a step, which suggests another partition, to the living quarters in the NE (ROG95 252).
The two kilns (ROG95 536 & 240) measure 2m and 2.2m in diameter and 0.6m and 1m deep respectively within faced-rubble walls. One (ROG95 240) has a barn attached, which measures 2.5m from WSW to ENE by 1.7m transversely within stony banks, 0.75m thick and 0.5m high, with the flue of the kiln opening into it. The other kiln is set into the slope on the SW and is built on the line of a stone head-dyke.
There are a number of enclosing dykes on the site, suggesting a piecemeal development. Some robbing of the dykes has occurred in recent times at the W end of the township. Several patches of rig cultivation are visible in the grassy or bracken-covered patches adjacent to the farmsteads, including one of about 1.5ha, with two furlongs of curving rig up to 7m between furrows (ROG95 238), and two others of less than 0.5ha respectively (e.g. ROG95 254). A circular sheepfold has been built over the site of one farmstead (NC 7474 0247), and there is a length of wall that runs along the NE of the fold which may be one side of a truncated building.
None of the buildings is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Sutherland 1879, sheet civ). Badchrasky is first documented with one tenant in 1781 (NLS Dep. 313/2120), with 6 tenants and sundry others in 1817 (NLS 313/2157) and was apparently abandoned by 1828, in which year it is not listed (NLS Dep. 313/2162).
(ROG95 235-6, 238-242, 244-248, 251-4, 406, 531-3, 535-6)
Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 6 June 1995