Ardnamurchan Transitions Project - 3

For the third year, work has been done on the 18th and 19th century sites in the grounds of Coldstream Cottage, on the hill above Swordle. In the picture above, the remains of what was once a large byre can be seen in the foreground, with, behind it, several trenches which have been dug into each end of three dwelling houses. The excavations were carried out under the supervision of Helena Gray of CFA Archaeology, and The Diary was shown round by Richard Tuffin.

The byre, which is a large building near the existing byre in the cottage grounds, consists of at least two rooms with dirt or stone floors and drains along the building running out to the front. At one time it may have been inhabited, with the family in one end and the animals in the other, but later it was used only for animals

Many of the rocks which form the lower parts of the walls are huge, and there is some evidence that the walls were knocked down, much of the upper parts lying outside the lines of the foundations. This might suggest that the village of which they formed a part, Swordle Chorrach, was forcibly cleared, though there may be other explanations. Certainly, people from Swordle did move to places like Kilmory.

In this picture, the byre is to the left and the three cottages, in a line, to the right. The latter are very well built, of carefully laid, often dressed stone, and each had a stone chimney at either end. This adds evidence to the local story that they had only recently been rebuilt when they were pulled down and the tenants evicted. There is some evidence that people returned, and that they were re-used later.

While The Diary was visiting, one of the diggers found a well-preserved piece of wood which might have been the carved back of a chair, and what might have been a metal cooking pot had recently been unearthed.

Some idea of the standard of building in the houses is seen in this picture of one of the fireplaces. The two upright, red-coloured stones on either side of the hearth are not local, being a sandstone, and can have no other purpose than to be ornamental. Similar use of sandstone is seen elsewhere, for example on Mull.

Outside some of the walls large numbers of whelk and limpet shells have been found. Locally, the name 'whelk' is given to shellfish which the English would call 'winkles'. Whelks are still collected around Ardnamurchan's shores, and are exported to the continent.

As each dig is completed, considerable trouble is taken in restoring the landscape. This picture shows the site a few days after work had finished, with all the turfs carefully replaced.

Map of the area is here, with arrow pointing to the site.