Thatched cottage at Markwell (Markquel), Ulbster

A traditional three-bay, single-storey, thatched crofthouse dating from the mid-19th century, with a kailyard to the east and a detached steading to the north. The crofthouse has white harled rubble walls with squared margins, four-pane timber sash and case windows and a large casement window to later porch addition. Rush thatched roof (heavily overgrown with vegetation, 2023) netted and weighted with long stone slabs, end chimneystacks and dressed stone skew putts. The buildings are located on raised ground to the west of the A99 road, in the scattered crofting hamlet of Ulbster on the Caithness coast. They are currently vacant, and the rush thatch is heavily overgrown with vegetation.

Drystone rubble boundary walls enclose the kailyard to the immediate front (east) and extend north to meet the steading range, which is at right-angles to the crofthouse. The rubble steading is single-storey and gabled. It was thatched at the time of listing (1984), but the roof has now largely collapsed, and the building is in a ruinous condition with only some evidence of the timber roof structure and rush thatch remaining to the central section. The range comprises five compartments with some remnants of entrance doors on the south elevation. The east compartment was a dwelling and contained a fireplace, ambries, and a window at the rear (Canmore, 2004). The central sections appear to have been stores and the broad opening to the western compartment indicates it may have been a cart shed (Canmore, 2004).