Monument record MHG6080 - Bay

NG25SE 8.07 270 540.

The fermtoun of Bay comprises a scattered group of three farmsteads (NG268 542, 268 541 and 270 540) and a possible building at NG 2696 6398 on the N, E and S fringes of the present farm of Bay, extending over a distance of about 250m. Each of the farmsteads has one longer building and a shorter structure, adjacent or close by, and an associated enclosure. The long buildings are between 9.5m and 11.6m in length and some 3m in breadth, whilst the smaller structures are almost square at some 4m in length by between 3.6m and 4m in breadth, and walls are between 1m and 1.45m in thickness.
The northernmost farmstead (NG 268 542) displays some evidence of phasing, both in the superimposition of one enclosure over another and in the succession of buildings attached to the N side (WAT90 1240, 1241). Furthermore the S end of a building platform, which is attached to the earlier enclosure, is visible at the SW side of the later enclosure. The later building (WAT90 1240), differs from the others in being narrower at only 2.6m in breadth.
A possible building (WAT90 1246) at the S side of the farm, near the track down to the river Bay, is a subrectangular stance, measuring 4.7m by 3.8m.
Whilst there are buildings represented at each of the above locations on the Macleod estate map of 1810 by John Chapman (SRO RHP 8726/4), it is not certain that they are one and the same.
(WAT90 1238-1246, 1313)
Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 3 October 1990.