Alternative Names Darngavel Farm
Site type FARMSTEAD
Canmore ID 85895
Site Number NS85NE 18
NGR NS 8704 5644
Council NORTH LANARKSHIRE
Parish CAMBUSNETHAN
Former Region STRATHCLYDE
Former District MOTHERWELL
Former County LANARKSHIRE

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Archaeological Notes

NS85NE 18 8704 5644.

The derelict farmstead of Darngavel is situated within a coniferous plantation 900m NE of Kirkhall steading. It comprises the shell of a house (possibly of the eighteenth century although much remodelled) incorporated into a 19th-century steading.
The house (which has been of two storeys and a garret) measured 9.5m ENE-WSW by 6.2m transversely over walls 0.65m thick. The two side walls stand to their wallheads and are capped by cornices. The openings of the SSE wall have been arranged symmetrically, with two windows on the groundfloor and three on the first; the NNW wall (which appears less regular and may have been partially rebuilt) has a window on either side of a central door. This retains an inscribed lintel bearing the date 1743, but a clumsy attempt has been made to alter this to '1643'. Two windows survive on the first floor, although a third may have been lost with the collapse of a portion of wall. The ENE gable is now much reduced in height but a fireplace is still visible under the pile of rubble which conceals much of the inner face. The WSW gable stands almost to its full height, but is in a precarious condition following the collapse of the chimney. This gable incorporates a door and a window on the ground floor, a window on the first, and a small blocked aumbry in the garret. Another aumbrey of similar pattern survives on the ground floor at the W end of the NNW wall while a pair of larger aumbries (evidently of later date and grooved for shelving) can also be seen on the ground floor at either end of the opposite wall. The internal partitions of the building have presumably been of lath and plaster but none of these survive, nor is there any indication of the means of access between floors.
The buildings of the steading are arranged around three sides of a courtyard and correspond with the depiction of Darngavel on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Lanarkshire, 1864, sheet xiii). They were still roofed in 1910 (1921 revision, sheet xiii).
(CSW 3354)
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS, IF) 28 February 1995.
MS/731/11.