Building record MHG32702 - Boathouse, Old Ardtornish

The walls are of snecked rubble, with large, undressed corner stones. It has a slate roof, probably not original, and a segmental arch of slabbed voussoirs. In its north wall is a slit opening of the type common in Highland barns, and there are small rectangular openings in both gables. For most of its length the building is cut into the steep hillside.

It stands at the western edge of the bay of Inninbeg, where the gravelly sand has given way to shingle. On the adjacent beach is a semicircular fish-trap (see separate entry, 'Inninbeg'). The remains of a small settlement can be found in the trees at the far side of the bay, at the foot of a waterfall. A pair of concrete cottages of 1879 stands to the east of a walled enclosure, and in front of it is a cleared strip of beach. In front of the boathouse a strip of beach has been cleared of large stones. On the south side of this are the remains of a simple pier extending down to low water mark, constructed of boulders, presumably once with a smooth top of smaller stones, now lost.

Old maps show a path leading from the boathouse to the walled garden and on up the hill to the steading and house. Another path zig-zags up the steep hill behind the boathouse to join the tree-lined avenue which runs between the site of Ardtornish House and Ardtornish Castle.
Information supplied by Sound of Mull Survey - P Martin.

(KC 12/03)