Tanera Mor: Evaluation of Standing Buildings
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Tanera Mor: Evaluation of Standing Buildings Catherine Dagg, BA, ACIfA For Summer Isles Enterprises Ltd. Achiltibuie Wester Ross IV26 2YN. 1 Tanera Mor: Evaluation of Standing Buildings 1.0 Background to Evaluation With new ownership and extensive plans for development on Tanera Mor, in September 2017 it was agreed that an audit of cultural heritage resources on the island, particularly standing buildings with potential for refurbishment, was advisable. The aims of the evaluation were to give an approximate date of construction, alterations and abandonment for each building, to link them with any known historical facts and allow an informed decision on any proposals for development. The evaluation attempts to cover all dwelling houses, barns and byres, on the assumption that the latter may well stand on the footings of earlier buildings, and all examples of these types, whether roofed and in use, reduced to footings or lost from the archaeological record. This evaluation does not cover the herring station complex, which is covered by a separate investigation. Other archaeological features, including structures, dykes and areas of cultivation are covered by an archaeological report. 2.0 Historical Background Tanera Mor was a part of the Coigach estates of the Earl of Cromartie. A detailed map of the island was drawn for the estate in 1784, the date of transfer of ownership of part of the island to Morison and Mackenzie to establish a herring station. This map clearly shows that there were no dwellings or other buildings on the island at this date apart from in the immediate vicinity of the proposed herring station. Areas of cultivation were shown in detail, as were two shieling sites. It is documented that there were tenants resident on the island before this date, so it is assumed that all early settlement was within the Quay area. 2.1 Crofts After the sale of the Quay area, tenants of the Cromartie estate would have been forced to create new townships on the lands still belonging to the estate, and two townships developed: Ardnagoine to the north and Garadheancal, or Acarsaidh to the south. The island was lotted in 1845. This may not have affected the pattern of settlement, but evidence from the census returns of 1841 and 1851 suggest a degree of movement of families onto their new lots. The families, many of which intermarried, stayed stable through the 19th century, with two families leaving to emigrate to Australia on the Sir Alan Macnab in 1853 and two new families arriving in the 1850s from Reiff and Isle Ristol. The number of households peaked in the 1860s then declined slowly until the beginning of the 20th century, after which depopulation happened rapidly. Through the 1920s there are three croft tenants, these have all left by 1931. 2 Around 1860 the area around Lochanach, already valuable arable ground, was settled by two families who moved from elsewhere on the island. One family stayed there until around 1920 when a drowning accident took two able-bodied men from the island. Between Quay and Acarsaidh one house appears to have served as an inn, presumably for fishermen and other sailors. This house, referred to as Brae in census returns but marked as an inn on Admiralty charts, was owned by one family, MacLean, from at least 1841 through to the start of the 20th century. However, the original inn house was replaced by a new building, constructed some time after 1875 There appears to have been a major phase of house improvement and new building between 1875 and 1902, probably towards the beginning of that period as the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map of that date appears to show some buildings under construction. This work was probably heavily supported financially by the Countess-Duchess of Cromartie-Sutherland. Between 1876 and 1884 the Cromartie estate spent more on improvements around Coigach than in any other part of the estate, while a sale of battens of timber on Tanera, advertised in December 1894, may indicate a phase of house improvement. The most common improvement was the insertion of flues and fi replaces in the gable ends of each dwelling, replacing the old system of the peat fire on the floor, and replacement of the old cruck frames supporting a turf or thatch roof with A-frames of imported timber lengths with Ballachulish slates as the roofing material. Depopulation did not begin in earnest until the 20th century, with 19 households in 1891 reducing to 15 in 1901. The majority of families left in the 1920s. In the mid 1930s, James Macleod returned from ranching in Manitoba and bought the island from the Cromartie estate, using the land himself but also letting land and houses to various tenants. 2.2 Quay The Quay area, with ten acres of land as well as the herring station buildings, passed, after the failure of the herring curing industry, into the ownership of Meyrick Bankes (1865), and subsequently the Dundonnell estate (1893). It was tenanted as a croft by the Maclean family from around 1870 until the 1920s. In 1937 it was sold to Frank Fraser Darling, who lived there until 1944, in the process demolishing much of the remaining 1784 herring curing buildings. In 1948 the owner of the Quay area is Rev. Douglas Fleming Baxter, who also bought Old Dornie. In 1963 the whole island came into the possession of KP Frampton, who restored six of the old croft houses and the schoolhouse, opened the island Post Office in 1970 and established the first salmon farm. Two new houses were built north of Tigh an Quay, in the 1980s, for salmon farm workers. 3 Number and Location of households indicated by census returns: 1841 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 Ardnagoine 6 3 7 11 9 8 6 Quay 3 2 1 2 2 2 2 Brae (Inn) 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 Acarsaidh 7 7 6 6 7 6 5 Lochanach 2 2 2 2 2 3.0 Gazetteer of Standing Buildings. This gazetteer runs from north to south and is based on site visits carried out on 6.9.17, 18.9.17 and 21.10.17. Each building identified on the ground or from early mapping has been given an unique number and its description is accompanied by a recent satellite image and detail from the second Edition Ordnance Survey map showing the location of building. 3.1 Ardnagione This group includes all buildings north of the schoolhouse. The majority of buildings are ranged along the western edge of the large area of improved ground Below are extracts from the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map, Ross and Cromartyshire lllA, surveyed 1875, published 1881 and 2nd edition, surveyed 1902, published 1906. 4 1st ed. Ordnance Survey, 1875 2nd ed Ordnance Survey,1902 Ardnagoine 1. Historical notes: As the most northerly dwelling and therefore first in the census returns, this is most likely to be the house occupied by MacLeods, who moved from Isle Ristol to Tanera during the 1850s 5 and are still resident in 1901. The building was probably occupied before the arrival of the Macleods and may pre-date the lotting of the township. Cartographic evidence: This house appears on the 1st edition OS map. On the 2nd edition it is slightly elongated to the north. A dyke to the west forms a small enclosure and attaches this building to the west gable of building A3 Description: There is a marked difference in building style on either side of the doorway. The northern half is of rough rubble construction and a fireplace has been built onto the existing gable end. There is one obvious cruck frame groove between the door and the window to the north, but the back wall is too tumbled to find this groove’s partner or ascertain whether there was a window opening on the back wall. The south half of the building is of dressed stone, with the gable rebuilt to incorporate a fireplace and flue, no cruck frame grooves are evident and the window opening flares inwards. This difference in style would suggest that at least the entire south gable and half of the front elevation of the building were completely taken down and rebuilt. The extension attached to the south also has an east facing elevation of dressed stone and a well-constructed gable, but with no fireplace. This has a window opening to the west. The doorway is infilled with rubble. The extension to the north is small and of rough rubble, there are slight traces of the foundation course of a further addition to the north. P.1 East-facing (front) elevation of Ardnagoine1, showing differing building styles on either side of the central doorway 6 P2. Interior, north end of Ardnagione 1, showing cruck frame groove between doorway and window opening. Ardnagoine 2. Cartographic Evidence: This building appears not to correspond to any structures on the first or second edition Ordnance Survey maps, dating its construction to after 1901. Description: An approximately square building, aligned E-W, of very rough rubble construction, gables indicating a very shallow roof. Single doorway on south wall. This has the appearance of a barn or byre. Clearing of vegetation in the interior revealed a rough slabbed floor utilising local stone, with a central drainage channel leading to an outflow at the base of the east gable wall, confirming the function of the building as a byre. 7 P3. Ardnagoine 2: View from west of outer face of west gable P4. Interior of A2 showing drainage channel and slabbed floor 8 Ardnagoine 3.