Ruins (Buildings N, O & P)
Ruin (Building N)
On a small hillock to the left of the modern wooden house are some ruins. The ruins are of a barn associated with MacNicol’s House (Building D). The northern part of the barn appears as ruins in a photograph dating from 1904. However, it is later shown intact on a photograph dating from 1963, so reconstruction must have taken place at some time before this. The roof of the reconstructed barn blew off in a gale in 1968 and the building has steadily deteriorated since then.
Ruined House (Building O)
In front of you are the consolidated ruins of a small house. Built originally as a cottar’s house the building was later converted into a tenant farmer’s house with a barn or byre adjoining it. The building is a much altered single room house with a hipped roof at the west end and possibly a gable and fireplace at the east end.
Hope MacArthur, ferryman at Inveraray, said that he used to visit an old lady who lived in Building O, “her house was black – nothing but a cruisie – and the scones were black, and she was black too”. The old lady is thought to have been a wise woman as oral evidence suggests that she knew about herbal remedies. In her garden she is said to have grown self-heal, feverfew, sneezewort and woundwort, all names that explain the uses to which the plants were put.
Further down the path to the right are the ruins of Building P.
Ruins (Building P)
Building P is associated with Building O and is thought to have been ether a small barn or an animal shelter.
