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MHG47296 - Torshee, Rychraggan

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Type and Period (1)

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Full Description

NMRS Report: (23/06/2005)
NH43SE 71 4639 3025

The remains of these two farmsteads stand about 50m apart by the side of a trackway in mature forestry to the SW of Rychraggan. The W farmstead is the better preserved; it stands in a clearing on the N side of the track, and comprises two gable-ended buildings of mortared rubble, and a subrectangular enclosure. The building to the SSE is farmhouse (URQ97 266; NH 4639 3025), and it measures 10.3m from ENE to WSW by 4m internally. The side walls stand 2m high, that on the SSE pierced by a central entrance and two flanking windows, and that on the NNW by a single window. There is a fireplace and a press in each gable, and a third fireplace at attic level in the WSW gable. The building has a concrete floor. The other building stands about 20m to the NNW (URQ97 265). It originally measured 17.5m by 4m internally, but an extension 7m long has been added at the WSW end. The side walls stand up to 1.8m high. The earlier part of the building has been divided into three compartments; the ENE compartment, which may have served as a stable, has a wide doorway and a window, while the central compartment has a door on the SSE. The WSW compartment has opposed entrances, one in each side, and against its NNW wall there is a horse-engine platform 7m in diameter, which retains its drive mechanism. A rectangular enclosure is attached to the NNW side of the building.
The E farmstead also comprises two buildings, which face each other across the track. In comparison with its neighbour it is poorly preserved, both buildings being planted with trees and their walls overgrown with moss. The larger building, on the NW side of the track, measures 28.9m from NE to SW by 3.7m transversely within rubble walls up to 1.5m high (URQ97 167; NH 4647 3027). It has three compartments and, from the evidence of straight joints visible in the NW wall, each appears to represent a separate phase of construction, that on the NE being the earliest. The central compartment has opposed entrances, while the other two each have a single entrance on the SE. Three cruck-slots can be identified, all in the NE wall, two of them in the SW compartment, the other in the central compartment. The SE building (URQ97 168), which has been extensively robbed, measures 11.9m by 4.3m within rubble walls no more than 0.3m high.
George Brown's 1808 'Plan of the Davoch of Inchbreen' (National Archives of Scotland, RHP 11955) depicts a township named Craig Hunich at approximately this location, but none of the buildings shown can be matched with those extant today. The latter, however, are all depicted as roofed on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire 1875, sheet xxix), and named Torshee. They are described in the Name Book (ONB 1871) as 'two one storey thatched farmhouses with small outstanding office houses ... all in fair repair'. By the date of the 2nd edition of the OS map (Inverness-shire 1905 sheet xxix) only the W farmstead was still roofed.
(URQ97 167-8; 265-6)
Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 20 October 1997
ONB 1871

NH 464 302 A rapid walkover survey of c 285ha of mature conifer woodland was carried out prior to clear felling. A total of
22 new sites were added to the archaeological record, including roundhouses at NH 458 298 and NH 484 311, and a complete cast-iron horse engine associated with a 19th-century farmstead at Torshee (NH 464 302).
Report lodged with Highland SMR.
Sponsor: Forestry Commission Scotland.
M Wildgoose 2004

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 4638 3024 (20m by 20m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH43SE
Civil Parish	URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON
Geographical Area	INVERNESS

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