About Auchindrain
Farm townships like Auchindrain were once common throughout Scotland and indeed much of Europe. Today only Auchindrain survives as an exceptionally complete, evolved group of farm buildings, dating from the period 1750-1840. The Township of Auchindrain is nationally important and unique, in having escaped the age of Agricultural Improvement, the subsequent Crofting schemes of the later 19th century and the vicissitudes of social and economic decline. Only a small number of completely deserted and ruinous townships in the Highlands and Islands can provide similar data. These townships are, however, often difficult to access and lack the historical documentation which Auchindrain possesses.
A plan to “improve” Auchindrain was produced by George Langlands for the 5th Duke of Argyll in 1788, as part of an ambitious scheme of improvements aimed at the Duke’s many joint-tenancy farm townships. For sound practical and economic reasons these improvements were never implemented at Auchindrain. Many other townships including Auchindrain’s neighbours: Braleckan, Brenchoille and Killean, were enclosed, their joint-tenants given notice to quit and the land improved. The land at Auchindrain was too wet, awkward and unattractive to the improvers so the Township survived. The Township was continuously occupied until 1962, when Edward “Eddie” MacCallum, the last tenant farmer, retired.
The Township buildings evolved – improvements here, innovations there, and continual repairs. So, in the lesser features of the buildings, we have an important chronology of improvements: earth, cobbled and concrete floors; walls built drystone, or loosely mortared, buildings with complete cruck-framed roofs, others with corrugated iron roofs. Although it may seem in places that these developments spoil a complete historic picture, they are themselves very important in the study of how life in a rural agricultural community that survived the age of Agricultural Improvement evolved over time. Because Auchindrain was never “improved” or enclosed it has become a direct physical link, the last of its kind, with the past. It is the outstanding nature and importance of the Township that led to its preservation as a Museum.
The Township of Auchindrain is also nationally important as it brings together in a single place, valuable information about the farm townships of the past. The information that it contains enables these settlements to be better understood within a national context. The Township is also strongly representative of the character and development of farming practices, vernacular building traditions and the history of agriculture in Scotland. The Township of Auchindrain survives exceptionally complete as an evolved group of pre-improvement farm buildings, which are of architectural and historical importance. The Collection (Township) consists of a range of agricultural buildings, which fall into three key categories:
Multi-Functional Buildings
1) Tenant farmers’ longhouses or byre dwellings provided shelter for the farmer, his family and his cattle. The typical byre-dwelling of the pre-Improvement era as seen at Auchindrain comprises a “room”, dairy/closet, kitchen and byre, all disposed linearly under the same roof with separate doorways to the house and the byre. There are five tenant farmers’ longhouses within the Township of Auchindrain (Buildings A, D, H, S & W).
2) The domestic houses provided shelter for the craftsmen and women who lived within the Township. There are four domestic houses within the Township of Auchindrain (Buildings C, L, O & R).
3) There is a one-roomed, drystone, thatched house within the Township of Auchindrain that was built to house the landless labourers or cottars who were employed as labourers by the tenant farmers’ (Building G).
4) For centuries every farm township supported those of its people who, because of age, illness or injury could not support themselves. There is a one-roomed, thatched house within the Township of Auchindrain that was used to house old, poor, ill and/or people who had been injured and could not work (Building M).
Specialist Buildings
1) There are four barns within the Township of Auchindrain which would have been multifunctional and used in crop processing (threshing and winnowing of oats), for the storage of animal feed – hay, turnips and slabs of linseed cake - and sheep shearing (Buildings B, J, N & X).
2) There are six buildings within the Township of Auchindrain that were used as animal shelters and stables (Buildings E, K, P, Q, T & U).
3) There is one cart shed within the Township (Building F), near which was a communal area where the Township women washed blankets during certain periods.
4) The Bull and Wool House (Building K) is built over part of a corn-drying kiln which is thought to have gone out of use sometime before 1820.
5) Located next to a tenant farmer’s longhouse (Building W) are the remains of a mill.
Other Agricultural/Farm Structures
Also located within the Township of Auchindrain are the following agricultural/farm structures:
1) Cobbled areas including the remains of a drove road
2) Walled gardens (kailyards)
3) A variety of walls and enclosures
4) The remains of rigs and lazybeds (well-manured raised beds often used for growing potatoes)
Unique Features
The Township of Auchindrain itself is a unique and important example of a joint-tenancy farm township. But contained within the buildings at Auchindrain are unique and important examples of the evolution of farming practices:
1) The byre in MacCallum’s House (Building B) is unique as it has a second entrance in the eastern gable, which would have been used for mucking out to the midden to the east. The cows were tethered in the byre of MacCallum’s House using a moving post or trevis system where one of the posts, hinged at the bottom, was moved aside to let the cow’s head in, then moved to the closed position and secured with a peg. This allowed the cows to move up and down but not side to side. Tethering the cows in this way meant that they did not get infections from being tethered around their neck with a rope. However, it can only be used to tether cattle that have horns such as Highland cattle. The moving post system is unique to Auchindrain. MacCallum’s House is also unique as it represents the final evolution in the form of the tenant farmers’ longhouse.
2) MacNicol’s House (Building D) is the oldest surviving longhouse at Auchindrain. It is unique as it has the only thatched roof original to the Township. Although the building was re-roofed with corrugated iron sometime after 1904, the corrugated iron was put on top of the late 18th century thatched roof, which was retained over the dwelling part of the house.
3) The Stable (Building E) is unique in that it is the only building within the Township to have a slate roof, which replaced an earlier thatched roof sometime after 1904. The slate for the roof came from Easdale since the Duke of Argyll, from whom the tenants of Auchindrain rented their land and houses, received royalties from the quarry there. Outside, on the north wall of the stable carved on one of the stones, is the legend “D MUNRO 1897”. This piece of graffiti was executed by Duncan Munro, a stonemason and tenant farmer who lived in Munro’s House (Building H). In 1897, Duncan would have been around forty years old. He lived at Auchindrain until his death in 1937.
4) The box-beds located within the kitchen of Munro’s House (Building H) are unique as they are the oldest surviving at Auchindrain and date from 1770-1800. Box-beds are a traditional feature of a longhouse kitchen.
5) Munro’s Barn (Building J) was originally built as winnowing barn but was altered to accommodate cattle in the early 20th century. The manuring passage in Munro’s Barn is unique at Auchindrain, in that it does not drain out of a doorway. It is aligned at a right angle to the building, and drained through a hole at the base of the northern end-wall, into a ditch leading to a burn to the west.
6) The roof trusses within The Bull and Wool House (Building K) bear graffiti dating from between 1911-1916.
7) Bell Pol’s House (Building M) is unique because of the historical data associated with it. Isabella MacCallum occupied the house from the late 1880s until 1913. Isabella was born at Auchindrain, and was the daughter of a cottar (landless labourer). Isabella was unmarried and for much of her life she kept house for her father. When he died she moved away from Auchindrain and went to work as a labourer in the local mines. The mines were very muddy places and Isabella was given the nickname - Bell Pol (the Gaelic for muddy Isabella). When she retired Isabella returned to Auchindrain to be supported by her relatives. On hearing about Isabella’s return to Auchindrain, the 8th Duke of Argyll suggested that the tenant farmers rebuild for her the ruined cottage which had once been inhabited by her father, and continue the age-old custom of looking after their own. The Duke supported his proposal with labour and materials. Isabella lived the remainder of her life at Auchindrain, provided for by the Township people.
