Building record MHG51485 - Farmhouse, Garvault, Loch Merkland

The remains of the primary dwelling house associated with the farmsteading. The building is first depicted on 2nd edition 6" OS mapping and is still shown as roofed on the 5th edition 6" mapping c.1963 (Post 1963 OS mapping depicts the building as unroofed). The house is a fairly late edition to the farmstead and probably replaced the longhouse (to the south-west) as the main dwelling. It is possible that an amount of stone used to construct the building came from MHG51484 (present on the 1st edition OS map, but not depicted on the 2nd edition), the ephemeral remains of which can be traced to the north-east.
The building has clearly deteriorated since the 5th edition OS map with no trace of the roof surviving and both gables partly collapsed. The wall heads along both long walls have deteriorated in places and are in poor repair in others. The south facing elevation contains the entrance door flanked by two windows. The north facing elevation contains a single window positioned directly opposite the doorway. All openings have lintels comprised of stone on the outward side of the opening and wood on the inward facing; only the wooden part of the lintel survives on the eastern most window on the south facing elevation, and this is in an advanced stage of decay. The building is constructed using coursed rubble with well worked quoin stones around all openings and on all corners. Four skewputts adorn each of the corners and all but the skewputt in the south-west corner still survive in position. Internally, the building has a fireplace centrally situated in each of the gable walls with a single storage alcove to one side. The rubble from the collapsed gables lies in front of each of the fireplaces <1>. Photographed <2>.