Munro’s Barn (Building J)
This building was the winnowing barn and stable for Munro’s House (Building H). The western, rear, long-wall has some large foundation stones projecting from the base, particularly towards the northern end, where the foundation stones are on a different alignment, up to 0.9m to the west at the northern end. This suggests that the wall has at some point been substantially rebuilt. The southern end of the building, from a line roughly level with the northern door, has an earth floor. There may be cobbling underneath in places. To the north are two different styles, and presumably phases, of cobbled floor, separated by a central, north/south aligned manuring passage. The passage, which has been partially rebuilt in concrete, 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. There is only one surviving cruck stump within the building, located within a wall-recess between the two doors in the eastern long-wall. It is very badly damaged, with the front edge almost completely worn away. Although the roof was replaced around 1968, it appears that the original sheets of corrugated iron were re-used. The roof has three skylight windows on the eastern pitch, similar in style to others seen elsewhere in the Township. Internally, the purlins continue across the windows. It is unclear whether this was a feature of the original corrugated iron roof.
Outside at the gable end of the building is a stackyard where stacks of oats were built following the harvest. Still to be seen is a stackbase – a circular base of stones on which the stacks were built. In winter the stacks were dismantled and the oats brought into the barn for threshing – separating the grain from the straw – and winnowing – separating the unwanted chaff and dust from the grain. Well into the 19th Century, the threshing of the oats – removing the oat grain from the stalk – was carried out by beating the stalk on the floor with a hinged stick or flail. The winnowing was done by tossing the grain into the air between two opposing doors, so that the through draught blew the dust and chaff from it.
