Stones - 3

The best pieces of rock were used for the croft houses. The walls of this house, on the path down to Bay MacNeil, is a beautiful example of the seemingly random way in which the rocks were assembled to form a strong, lasting structure.

The stones remain but the roof is long gone. This bothy, at Achnaha, was restored as part of the Achnaha Township Restoration Project, funded by a Heritage Grant. The work was carried out by volunteers, supervised by conservation and technical staff, over a number of years after 2003, but the weather is already getting the better of the structure. The problem seems to be that the outer, thatched layer has been lost, revealing the peat turfs beneath. In traditional crofts, this was prevented by covering the roof with old nets. The building also shows the neat, curved ends to the walls, built as if to shrug off the Atlantic gales.

This photograph, from Mary Khan's collection, give an idea of what a crofting village looked like. It shows the main street of Kilmory, with Eigg in the distance to the right, and Rhum to the left. All but one of the buildings are thatched, and look to be in very good condition.

An increasing collection of these super photos can be seen at West Ardnamurchan Vintage Photographs.