East Tarbet Cottage, Harbour, Mull Of Galloway

East Tarbet Cottage is a single-storey, three-bay cottage dating to around 1828, situated alongside a quay at the Mull of Galloway, with an enclosing wall. The quay, built on a southwest-northeast axis, is angled to the east towards the end of the quay and is constructed of rubble masonry on natural rock to the west, with roughly coursed rubble masonry to the east. It is paved with coursed rubble. The cottage itself is of rubble construction, featuring granite lintels, roughly dressed rybats, and quoins. The north elevation has a two-leaf boarded door at the centre, and boarded windows in the outer bays. The east, west, and south elevations are blank. The roof is finished with red sandstone ashlar coped skews, granite skewends, granite gablehead stacks with red sandstone ashlar coping, and small grey slates. A square-plan enclosure wall, built of rubble with angled rubble coping, surrounds the cottage. The wallhead angles upwards to a gateway at the centre of the north side.

The quay was likely used for landing supplies for the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse, and it is probable that the quay and cottage were built around the same date as the lighthouse. A “store house” is marked on a plan of the Mull of Galloway from 1827, which may correspond to the current cottage. The quay and cottage are also shown on an Ordnance Survey map of 1848. A new boathouse and store now affect the surrounding setting. According to Historic Environment Scotland records, the statutory address is EAST TARBET, COTTAGE AND QUAY.