Alternative Names Upper Auchmore
Site type BUILDING, COTTAGE(S), SAND AND GRAVEL WORKINGS
Canmore ID 152372
Site Number NJ60NE 57
NGR NJ 6788 0556
Council ABERDEENSHIRE
Parish MIDMAR
Former Region GRAMPIAN
Former District GORDON
Former County ABERDEENSHIRE

Canmore Mapping
View this site on a map

---

Archaeological Notes

NJ60NE 57 centred 6788 0556

The remains of a small cottage and two gravel-pits are situated in an area of rank gorse and heather some 450m SE of Auchmore farmsteading (NJ60NE 62). The cottage (NJ 6790 0558) measures 6.2m from NNW to SSE by 4.9m transversely over walls 0.6m in thickness and up to 1.5m in height. The entrance is in the middle of the ENE side and there is a fireplace in the SSE gable.
The cottage is shown roofed on both the 1st and 2nd editions of the OS 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire, 1869, sheet lxxii; 1901, sheet lxxii.SE), standing in the W corner of an enclosure. The later map also shows a second roofed building and two sand-pits about 10m and 30m SW respectively. The building is no longer visible, and one of the sand-pits (NJ 6787 0557), which lay in the corner of what is now a cultivated field, has been filled in.
The other pit (NJ 6787 0554) is marked by an overgrown hollow measuring about 12m in diameter and up to 1.5m in depth.
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 1 July 2003.

The cottage stands at 238m above sea level on the N facing slope of the Hill of Fare, 500m S of Skybrae farm. It stands in the angle formed where two drystone walls, which are part of a boundary that surrounds a woodland, meet. The First Edition Ordnance Survey 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire, 1869, sheet lxxii) shows the cottage to have stood within a rhombus-shaped enclosure whose sides are about 50 metres long. The NW and SW walls of the rhombus are integrated into the boundary noted above. There is no trace of the enclosure’s NE wall and a length of the SE wall measuring about 1.5 metres is butted against one of the boundary walls. The map also shows there to have been trees along the rhombus.

The cottage is built into the slope of the hill. The walls are built from large field boulders and the corner stones are roughly dressed. The stones are bonded with earth or clay. The external measurements of the cottage are 6.2m by 4.8m and an outshot built against the SE wall adds another 1.5m. to the length of the cottage. The walls are 1.58m thick and the NE wall is about 1.5m high. The height of the remaining walls is less than 1m. There is a fireplace is in the SE wall and door-space and the remains of a window-space in the north half of the NE wall. The S half of the NE wall is too low to show the remains of a window space. There is tumble from the walls both inside and outside the cottage but there is no sign roof timbers or slate inside the building.
Information added by SRP Hill of Fare, 10 March 2010.

Notes and Activities

15 March 2009 to 1 August 2009

FIELD VISIT

Project Scotland's Rural Past (SRP)

Notes Visited by David Coleman on 15 March 2009, when site was sketched and photographed. Visited by David Colemen and Ishbel MacKinnon (SRP) on 1 August 2009, when notes were developed.

Further details

1 April 2009 to 1 April 2009

REFERENCE

Project Scotland's Rural Past (SRP)

Notes Checked First Edition OS 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire, 1869, sheet lxxii).

Further details

10 March 2010

SRP NOTE

Project Scotland's Rural Past (SRP)

Notes The cottage stands at 238m above sea level on the N facing slope of the Hill of Fare, 500m S of Skybrae farm. It stands in the angle formed where two drystone walls, which are part of a boundary that surrounds a woodland, meet. The First Edition Ordnance Survey 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire, 1869, sheet lxxii) shows the cottage to have stood within a rhombus-shaped enclosure whose sides are about 50 metres long. The NW and SW walls of the rhombus are integrated into the boundary noted above. There is no trace of the enclosure’s NE wall and a length of the SE wall measuring about 1.5 metres is butted against one of the boundary walls. The map also shows there to have been trees along the rhombus.

The cottage is built into the slope of the hill. The walls are built from large field boulders and the corner stones are roughly dressed. The stones are bonded with earth or clay. The external measurements of the cottage are 6.2m by 4.8m and an outshot built against the SE wall adds another 1.5m. to the length of the cottage. The walls are 1.58m thick and the NE wall is about 1.5m high. The height of the remaining walls is less than 1m. There is a fireplace is in the SE wall and door-space and the remains of a window-space in the north half of the NE wall. The S half of the NE wall is too low to show the remains of a window space. There is tumble from the walls both inside and outside the cottage but there is no sign roof timbers or slate inside the building.


Further details