Longhouse, Camserney, Aberfeldy

The Longhouse in Camserney, Aberfeldy, dates from the mid-18th century or earlier and was likely converted into two dwellings around 1800. It underwent restoration in 1992 and 1997 by James F Stephen Architects, during which the east gable was rebuilt and thatch was reinstated by Duncan Matheson.

This longhouse is a rare example of a single-storey, six-bay, cruck-framed structure with a thatched roof made of rye straw and heather divots. The interior retains notable features, including rare wattle and daub and lath and plaster hanging lums. The walls are irregular, constructed from roughly snecked rubble with some large, roughly squared quoins. The roof structure consists of jointed and pegged cruck couples, which have been renewed at the east end and rest on large stones built into the wall.

The entrance elevation faces south and features the original four-bay dwelling on the left, which includes an off-centre two-leaf timber door, flanking windows, a blocked door on the outer left, and a box chimney. To the right are three bays, likely the former byre, which also has a two-leaf centre door and flanking windows, along with a conventional gablehead chimneystack on the right. The rear (north) elevation has a small window and a small rectangular outshot, probably a later addition.

The windows have a four-pane glazing pattern in fixed panes. The roof is supported by six pairs of cruck couples, with four original sets on the west roof and two sets added in 1992 and 1997 to part of the east roof, all supporting the thatch laid on divots with heather divots at the east ridge.

Inside, the space is divided by a stone wall, likely originally timber-partitioned, creating two rooms. The west room features a large wattle and daub hanging lum, with the east and north sides rebuilt in 1997, and a small outshot with a plank seat on the north wall. The east room has a lath and plaster hanging lum, which has been strengthened with horizontal laths, a timber salt box with a circular opening in the centre wall, and a later fireplace on the east wall with a large granite lintel.

Additionally, there is a peat shed located to the southwest of the longhouse. This large, open-ended, rectangular-plan structure is built from rubble and features three pairs of crucks with a corrugated roof.