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MHG11933 - Rispond Fishing Station

Summary

The structures at Rispond were developed mainly after 1787 by Thomas& James Arbuthnot of Peterhead, a kelp and fishing partnership.

Type and Period (1)

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Full Description

See also:

NH46NE0002 Rispond Lodge and cottage

JHooper, 20/09/2001
NC46NE 1 451 653
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The Industrial Archaeology of Sutherland (A Scottish Highland Economy 1700-1900, pp. 93, 104-105, 236, 249) - Sinclair B Calder, 1974

J Aitken : 19/2/2004
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(Location cited as NC 452 654). Pier, store etc., Rispond, c. 1788 and later. A delightful group with: a massive coursed-rubble pier and quay; a two-storey and attic fish house with external stair to the first floor, crow-stepped gables and a fish wind-vane; a single-storey barn, and three dwelling-houses, one of them with wings designed as salmon-boiling houses.
J R Hume 1977.

A rapid coastal zone assessment survey was conducted by GUARD in the Autumn of 1997 commissioned by Historic Scotland from the Viking and Early Settlement Archaeological Research Project based at the University of Glasgow.

The structures at Rispond were developed mainly after 1787 by Thomas & James Arbuthnot of Peterhead, a kelp and fishing partnership. This complex of buildings in a sheltered inlet comprised a fish house with outside stair, an icehouse and dwelling houses for the manager and ship master, all arranged around a harbour and pier. The earliest of the structures is an early to mid C18th, two-storey and attic fish house or store with an outside stair to the first floor. This building has crow-stepped gables and a salmon windvane on the roof. Although still used as a store, the windows of this structure are no longer in their frames and the wooden doors are rotten. The other structures in this complex are in reasonable condition. One of the dwelling houses that fronts the harbour has been refurbished and is currently in use as the office premise of a local estate. There has been a number of structural changes made to this building, including the insertion of a large window in the wall of that faces the harbour. One of the buildings at the rear of the current office has been buttressed at the gable end with wooden stakes and is clearly subsiding. This structure is no longer in use and has been boarded up. The massive coursed-rubble pier and quay is in good condition and is still used with a number of boats moored there at the time of the survey. Although most buildings are still in use and basically in reasonable condition, certain elements of this complex are beginning to deteriorate and require attention. <1>

A photographic survey was carried out in 2011 as a condition of a planning application for the conversion of a byre/agricultural store into a two bedroom holiday letting cottage (Listed Building). <2>

Sources/Archives (4)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 4515 6542 (159m by 183m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC46NE
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	DURNESS

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (5)

Related Investigations/Events (2)

External Links (2)