Creag Dhu

House. Dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, it was altered in the 18th and 20th centuries. The house is timber-framed and plastered, with exposed framing to the front, and has a roof of handmade red plain tiles. Originally a one-bay hall facing northwest, it has a two-bay crosswing to the right, incorporating the cross-passage. A wing from the 18th century extends to the rear, with a stack at the junction.

The ground floor has one early 19th-century sash window with 16 lights and crown glass (frame repaired), and one 20th-century fixed light, replacing an earlier shop window. The first floor has two 18th-century, three-light windows, each with one wrought iron casement, moulded mullions and transom, and rectangular leading. A 20th-century door, constructed from reclaimed planks, sits within a 20th-century four-centred head. The framing of the hall has straight braces trenched outside the studding, and a blocked large unglazed window with diamond mortices for former mullions. The roof was raised by approximately 1.30 metres, with inserted studding, including a re-used sill or head of an early glazed window.

The crosswing was formerly jettied to the front, and cut back flush with the ground floor in the 18th century, exposing horizontal section joists. Below the jetty are two doorposts with mortices for a former arched head and for brackets to the jetty, with some 20th-century brick infill at the bottom. Above the jetty, much of the original studding remains, with two straight braces trenched outside (one incomplete), alongside one panel of wattle and daub. A fixed light with diamond glazing, handmade glass and two saddle bars is present in the rear wing’s right elevation.

Inside the hall, straight display bracing is trenched into the studding, forming an X pattern on the left. A spere truss features one of two chamfered corner-braces below the plain-chamfered girt, with similar bracing above, all heavily smoke-blackened. There is an inserted floor, plastered to the soffit, with a modern beam. A four-centred doorhead at the rear end of the cross-entry is made from modern materials; it is unclear if it covers an original doorhead. In the parlor/solar bay, the original axial beam is chamfered with step stops, while the joists are plastered to the soffits. A cambered tiebeam, unchamfered, is present, with missing braces. The roof was rebuilt in the 17th century in a clasped purlin form.

The house retains a large amount of original structure and is a good example of an unusual type. It was originally plastered with a 19th-century shopfront, pedimented doorcase, eaves cornice and the present first-floor casements, which were removed around 1963.