The Shieling, Scourie

Earlier 19th century well preserved traditional dwelling house part of which, was according to the occupier, functioning as a local hardware shop by the 1830s.

L-plan house and shop with principal elevation to SW made up of 7 irregular bays, dwelling house to left 4 bays, former shop to right 3 bays, single storey wing built to SE to accommodate expansion of business as a General Store in mid/later 19th century. As shown in the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey Map and demonstrated by the single stack indicating an original outer gable, the single storey wing would originally have stood proud of the house/shop, sometime later this passageway between the 2 has been filled in. Located to the rear of the house is a single storey outshot possessing a timber-lined interior with original shop fixtures and fittings intended to store victuals for the front shop. Other original features including timber lined interiors remain to both house and shop making this an important surviving example of a 19th century house/local store which would have served the self sufficient crofting community. The house and shop sit well within their original setting with an associated stone outbuilding and garden bounded by a stone dyke wall located across the road to the SW. The outbuilding is split into 3, where coal and peat were stored, there was also room for a donkey.

It is interesting to note that the crowstepped gables of The Shieling do not possess the hallmark right angled skew putt typical of buildings erected by the Sutherland Estate. The present occupier states that Donald MacDonald came from Rogart in the 1820s to establish a small croft and business in Scourie and thinks that it was he, rather than the Sutherland Estate who erected the Shieling, therefore accounting for this stylistic difference. The shop was once at the hub of village life and served the wider community within a 30 mile radius.

White washed rubble with with ashlar margins, timber sash and case multi-paned windows. Slate roof with ashlar stacks. Corrugated iron roof to single storey former shop.