Monument record MHG47966 - Blackhill

NMRS Report: (29/06/2005)
ND34SW 83 30055 44146

The remains of Blackhill farmsteading are situated on a prominent terrace on the NW side of Loch Brickigoe. It comprises three buildings and a garden, with a further enclosure on the side of the loch some 40m to the S. Several quarries in the vicinity are probably contemporary with the use of the steading.
The building that lies immediately S of the garden is a cottage (YARROWS04 306), which measures 12.3m from NW to SE by 5.5m transversely over clay-bonded walls 0.6m in thickness and standing to gable and wall-head height. There is a central doorway and flanking windows in its NE side, fireplaces at either end and a small blocked window in its SW side, opposite the entrance. All of the openings have sawn and squared timber lintels.
Immediately S of the cottage is a two-compartment building (YARROWS04 307) measuring 13.8m from NE to SW by 5.1m transversely over clay-bonded walls 0.6m in thickness and standing to gable and wall-head height. There is an entrance into the SW compartment in its SE side, but much of this side of the building has collapsed. There are fireplaces at both ends, that on the SW being blocked. In addition to the fireplace at the centre of the NE end, there is a blocked doorway in its SE side, but both these features appear to have been built into a wall that is an insertion, since neither end of it is bonded into the outside walls of the building. Entry to the NE compartment was by a doorway in the gable.
The third building (YARROWS04 308) in the steading lies 19m NE of the cottage, on a distinct slope that rises from the W. Originally measuring about 15.1m from E to W by 5.3m transversely over clay-bonded walls, the building appears to have comprised three compartments. Much of the W compartment has collapsed leaving only the mid-gable at its E end and a portion of the wall on the S, which contains a doorway and a window. The central part of the building appears to have been heavily robbed, with the wall on the N side being reduced to little more than a low stony bank and the wall on the S barely visible. The E compartment has evidently been modified for use as a pen.
The enclosure on the side of the loch is situated against an old quarry face and measures about 27m from ENE to WSW by up to 10m transversely within a wall up to 1.4m in height. It has two compartments and the larger, to the ENE, contains a smaller enclosure in its NE corner. There are entrances to the outer enclosure in both its WSW and ENE ends (the latter blocked), and the central partition also contains an opening; there is an opening in the S side of the inner enclosure.
The quarry (YARROWS04 324) in which the enclosure stands measures about 37m from ENE to WSW by at least 9m transversely and its face on the N stands at least 6m in height. A second quarry (YARROWS04 321) is at the farmsteading, 20m E of the cottage. Roughly circular on plan, the grass-grown pit measures up to 6.7m in diameter and has been dug into the slope on the E to a depth of at least 1.2m.
The farmstead is depicted roofed on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Caithness 1876, sheet xxix), but at that time it comprised only two buildings, the cottage not being built until later. The cottage is shown roofed on the 2nd edition of the map (1907, sheet xxix), but by then the range on the E side of the steading had fallen into disrepair and is depicted unroofed. The garden enclosure, which is still visible, is shown only on the 1st edition of the map.
Blackhill was one of three steadings collectively known as Brickigoe in the 19th century and they are described in the Ordnance Survey Name Book (Caithness No. 13, p. 240) as 'three farm steadings occupied by Thomas Black and others, and the property of Bently Innes Esq of Thrumster'.
(YARROWS04 306-08, 321, 324)
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS) 15 June 2004