Cruck-framed Barn at Dounie Steading, Blacklunans

Late 18th or early 19th century, single-storey, rectangular-plan agricultural barn. Rubble walls, likely to be built with earth mortar. Steeply pitched roof with a corrugated iron covering supported by a combination of five timber cruck couples and seven timber trusses supported on the wallhead. The curved crucks are jointed and pegged using coach bolts. They are set into the walls in a cruck slot and sit on a stone base or footing.

The south gable end is open and the north gable end has timber boarding (some of which may be original). In the centre of west wall is an entrance opening with a timber boarded door.

Historical development

Vernacular buildings of this type are difficult to date accurately because their form and construction tended to change little over long periods of time, and there are less likely to be historic records about these modest rural buildings. The form, materials and construction techniques show that this barn pre-dates the agricultural improvement period that reached Highland Perthshire around the 1830s or 1840s. This period is referred to in the New Statistical Account for the Parish of Alyth, which was written in 1843. The account states that 'both the farm buildings and cottars' houses have been greatly improved of late years. The old thatch roofs are daily giving place to slate, and a stone and turf cottage is looked upon as a relic of bygone times'.

The farm at Dounie is described in the Ordnance Survey Name Book of 1857-1861 as 'a farmhouse and number of scattered dwellings the property of Peter Fleming'. Buildings at Dounie are shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1862-1863) and comprise an L-plan steading range and the rectangular-plan barn to the east. Earlier maps (including Ainslie's of 1794 and Thomson's of 1825) also have Dounie marked on them, indicating that it has existed since at least the late 18th century. The form and construction of the nearby L-plan farmhouse and steading range has the appearance of an improvement period farm building, possibly built in the earlier 19th century, and the cruck frame barn is likely to be the earliest building surviving at this site.

The crucks have been bolted together using coach bolts. This would suggest a construction date from or after the late 18th century when such bolts were manufactured (traditionally crucks would have been formed from one piece of wood or pegged together with timber pegs).