Cruck Cottage, excluding 20th century timber boarded addition to southwest, Fingask Drive, Kirkhill is a Grade A listed building in the Highland local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 29 April 2016. Cottage.

Cruck Cottage, excluding 20th century timber boarded addition to southwest, Fingask Drive, Kirkhill

WRENN ID
tangled-shingle-pine
Grade
A
Local Planning Authority
Highland
Constituency
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP: Jamie Stone (LD)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
29 April 2016
Type
Cottage
OS grid reference
NH 554 457
Coordinates
57.47845, -4.41169
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Cruck Cottage, likely built in the second half of the 18th century, has undergone alterations in the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly to its interior. This single-storey, three-bay cottage features traditional cruck framing and is topped with a steeply pitched, piended roof covered in corrugated iron, which still shows some remnants of old thatch. It is important to note that a 20th-century timber boarded addition to the southwest is excluded from the listing.

The cottage is partially set into the ground, which has been gradually built up around its outer walls. It is constructed from coursed rubble with large, squared rubble quoins. Inside, there are two jointed and pegged curved crucks that are embedded in the walls and extend above ground, supporting purlins and cabbers. The southeast elevation features a doorway on the far right, with two small square window openings to the left, each fitted with two-pane timber windows. A small window opening is also present on the northeast end elevation.

The interior, last observed in 2015, is divided into three rooms. The walls are flush-pointed and painted, with some areas of surviving plaster. A hanging lum, located between the north and middle rooms, has been modified in the 19th century to function as the flue for a brick hearth and fireplace below. The internal subdividing walls are made of wattle and daub, incorporating straw and dung or clay, and are plastered and whitewashed.

Local climate

Cruck Cottage, excluding 20th century timber boarded addition to southwest, Fingask Drive, Kirkhill sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,050 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 84% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 58% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 56 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 96% of listed buildings. Of these, 38 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.2°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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