Monument record MHG48040 - Ulbster

NMRS Report: (20/07/2005)
ND34SW 175 32500 40969 & 32494 40960

The remains of this farmstead comprise two buildings, which are situated in a field of pasture about 80m ESE of Roadside Cottage. The N building appears to have contained a dwelling at the W end and a byre at the E end; the S building is a barn with a kiln at its W end.
The N building measures 12m from ESE to WNW by 5m transversely over clay-bonded walls 0.6m in thickness. The walls of the dwelling still stand to their full height on the N, W and S, but the mid-gable on the E has been largely removed, and the barn is similarly reduced. There is an entrance and a window in the S side of the dwelling, and a blocked fireplace in the W gable is flanked on the N by a small cupboard, and on the S by two small ambries set one above the other. The walls of the byre are best preserved on the N, where it measures 0.8m in thickness and contains a cruck-slot close to the NE internal angle. The abrupt increase in wall thickness at the junction with the dwelling probably indicates that the byre element of the range is of earlier date.
The kiln-barn stands only 5m SSW of the N range and measures 10.5m from ESE to WNW by 5.2m transversely over walls 0.6m in thickness. These stand to wall-head height everywhere, except on the S, where they have been reduced to little more than footings. In addition to the kiln at the round-ended W end, the building contains two compartments, the western one with a doorway in its N side and a cruck-slot midway between the door and the E side of the kiln. Attached to the NE corner of the barn is a small angle of dry-stone walling that suggests that it is the SW corner of an otherwise unrecorded building.
Both buildings of the steading are depicted roofed on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Caithness 1877, sheet xxix), but the kiln-barn is shown unroofed on the 2nd edition of the map (1907, sheet xxix).
(YARROWS04 745, 746)
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS) 26 August 2004