Applecross Old Estate Office Archaeological Investigation

Applecross Old Estate Office Archaeological Investigation Catherine Dagg For Applecross Trust Drummond Hill Stratherrick Road Inverness Inverness-shire IV2 4JZ Applecross Old Estate Office: Archaeological Investigation Applecross Old Estate Office: Archaeological Investigation Project Ref. CD1513 OASIS Ref. Catherin2-236436 Location NG 71109 44558 Project Type Excavation 1.0 Executive Summary Disturbed remains of what appear to be three human skeletons were recorded and recovered from under the floor of an early 19th century building. The remains appear to have been roughly placed in a shallow scoop and covered in beach cobbles. C14 dating of one long bone gave a date of 1864BP, contemporary with occupation of the nearby Applecross broch. 2.0 Background This investigation was triggered by the discovery of human remains during renovation work within the building known as the Old Estate Office, Applecross. The building is Listed, and renovation work was approved by Historic Scotland to convert it from its semi-derelict state to holiday accommodation. Renovation work carried out to date consisted of : Removal of all internal partitions, wall cladding and flooring, including wood floor and joists of passageway and concrete and tile floor of kitchen in south extension. Breaking through internal gable wall for insertion of new doorway at north west end, this opening 1.5m Excavation of this aperture down below the lowest course of laid stonework by about 300mm to lay poured concrete slab. Building up of doorway in breezeblock Levelling up of floor, including approximately 200mm of rubble laid over concrete slab followed by approximately 200mm of pink crushed quarried Kishorn stone spread over the whole floor Up to this stage no bones had been reported. Workmen admit to noticing bone fragments in spoil being removed out to the external spoil heap, which they thought were sheep bones. On 7.7.15 work began on underpinning the SW side of the internal gable wall. This involved scraping back the laid Kishorn aggregate and underlying rubble to expose the lowest course of walling and the cobbles this course rests on. It was at this point that what was thought to be a large cobble was lifted and found to be a cranium. Work was halted and he police, HCHET and Historic Scotland were consulted. When the police were satisfied that the remains were of historic interest only, it was agreed that the remains, at this point thought to consist of only the cranium and a few bones, would be recorded and removed. The archaeological investigation was carried out on 15-16th July 2015. The team consisted of: Catherine Dagg BA, ACIfA, Martha Kerr and Nick Goldthorpe of Applecross Archaeological Society. 3.0 Building History It is thought locally that the present house stands on the footprint of an earlier building, but there is now no documentary or map evidence to confirm this. At the time of Roy’s Military Survey in the 1750s there are no buildings along the shore north of Milton (Balvulen). Clearance to the shore from the inland townships was carried out in the time of John Mackenzie, laird of Applecross from 1810, with the cleared families settled on the ‘Street’ as fisher folk. Fig 1. Roy’s Military Survey 1750s: red arrow shows approximate location of present house The shoreline is not shown on the detailed but undated estate maps of around 1820 as it is outside the land earmarked for improvement. It is marked as ‘Innkeeper’s croft’ and there is an indication of an enclosure immediately west of the stream mouth. The inn was at Milton until at least 1850 and this map would suggest that the innkeeper’s croft covered the entire shoreline from Milton to the stream at the present road junction. Fig 2. Undated Estate map, c. 1820: red arrow shows approximate location of present house The house appears to have been built for one Captain Alexander Mackenzie, merchant and ship owner. residing at Applecross. He was flourishing in 1837 but going through bankruptcy proceedings in 1843, which is probably around the time of his death. The Applecross Heritage Centre archives have the following information: There is an account from Kenneth Macrae which talks about Alasdair a' Mhuilleir (Alasdair, the miller's son - he was Alexander MacKenzie, whose father was the miller in Milltown). He had a house and general store/merchant's business there. I'm pretty sure it is he who appears in the Kirk Session records in 1827. Macrae's note says "He it was who built the house that is now the estate office, the wing at the south being the shop and storehouses." The most probable date for Mackenzie having the house built is the 1820s, which is also the approximate time that major improvements were carried out on the Applecross Estate, including the establishment of the Home Farm and laying out of modern fields. The first definite record of the house is the Admiralty Chart, first surveyed in the 1850s, which shows a rectangular building aligned NE-SW Fig 3. Admiralty Chart, 1850s: red arrow indicates Old Estate Office As Mackenzie was trading as a merchant it seems likely that the dwelling house and the attached shop and storehouse are contemporary. Certainly all the extensions beyond the core rectangular dwelling are in place by 1875, as shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map. At this date the building was probably occupied by the estate manager, with the extension on the north east corner added as an office where rents were collected. Fig 4. 1st edition OS map, 1875 However, this map does appear, if accurate, to show an indent at the east end of the southern elevation, suggesting there may have been alterations after this date, although this is not evident in the stonework of the south elevation. Photograph 1. South east elevation of house and extension The building is Listed category B building, and the Listing document, dated 31/08/1983 gives the following description: Earlier 19th century, 2-storey, 3-bay house with contemporary 2-storey wing to rear and further near contemporary single storey, single bay wing to south gable. Coursed rubble (east) frontage, harled flanks and rear. Projecting gabled rubble porch masks centre door. Mainly 4-pane glazing (a little contemporary 8-pane glazing survives in rear); corniced end stacks slate roofs. This description would indicate that the 3-bay rectangular core dwelling is in its original dimensions. It is anyway unlikely that the load-bearing south west gable would have been substantially altered. At a date possibly around 1922 a range was put into the south west gable of the extension. The chimney here is of slightly different construction from the main building, suggesting there was no fireplace opening before this date. 1922 is suggested as the lintel of the fireplace is actually a section of iron rail, possibly brought over from Raasay by puffer when the iron mines and railway there were dismantled. After the estate office was moved up to Applecross House in the 1980s, the house was used occasionally as a private dwelling, the most recent occupant being Sean Kilbride, who lived there for around ten years. The following information on the internal layout of the extension is given by Mr Kilbride: The external door on the seaward side of the extension opened onto a passageway which ran the full width of the building and had a wooden floor. This opened onto the kitchen which occupied the rest of the extension, with a Rayburn stove and ceramic tiles laid on a concrete slab. A doorway led from the kitchen into the second, west extension, originally the storehouse, with a steep step down to accommodate differences in floor level. This description would place the cranium directly under the passageway. If the wooden floor and joists are original, as is likely, then the underfloor deposits are likely to have been undisturbed since the 1820s. 3.0 Site Status before Investigation The following photograph shows the state of the skull when first reported on 7.7.15: Fig. 5: Cranium as first noted by workmen Although there is no directional marker or scale, it can be seen that the cranium may have been more intact, that there are at least seven teeth visible in the upper mandible, including incisors. Photograph 2: Cranium as recorded by HCHET By the time the archaeological team arrived on 15.7.15, the cranium was definitely separated into pieces and teeth may now have been absent, while the surrounding deposits have been cleaned back considerably, with voids appearing in the underlying cobbles. Much of this cleaning back was carried out by Andy Puls of HCHET in order to satisfy the police that the remains were historic, and to ascertain whether any other bones immediately visible, but subsequent to this it would appear that the surrounding , very dry, deposit collapsed into the voids between the cobbles under the remains, as visible on the lower right of the photograph. The location of the three missing teeth is to be determined. A partial sheep’s horn was placed next to the skull. This is unlikely to have been its original location, but this point is out of shot on the first photograph. It is most likely to have been placed there by workmen. 4.0 Archaeological investigation Fig. 6: Sketch plan of building showing location of burials 4.1 Contexts An area measuring 2m NW-SE by 1,2m NE-SW was initially cleaned down. This involved the removal of the remaining overlying pink aggregate (C001) down to the surface below (C002). This can not be described as the original ground surface as preserved under the floorboards, as an unknown amount of levelling has probably been carried out in the early phase of renovation, and this surface is certainly lower than the lowest course of stones in the gable wall.

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