Photos capture mystery of long-abandoned Highland homes

An armchair, its floral patterned cover torn, sits in a derelict room of an abandoned house. There is mould on the wall behind it and a fireplace on adjoining wall. Broken plaster covers the floor.Angus Mackay Photography

Photographer Angus Mackay started taking pictures inside abandoned buildings during the pandemic

A photographer's fascination with old abandoned houses has provided rare glimpses inside derelict properties in the north Highlands.

Angus Mackay started taking pictures of the buildings during the Covid pandemic when his other work dried up almost overnight.

With consent of the properties' owners, he carefully explored the former homes in Caithness and Sutherland.

He has published many of his photographs in a new book and collaborated with landscape artist Jane McDonough in a new exhibition.

The single-storey house has an outbuilding attached to it. The property is in a rural Highland setting of wide open fields.Angus Mackay Photography
There is a small window above a small, stone sink. Two taps stick out from a wooden box above the sink.Angus Mackay Photography
The room has a flagstone floor. There is a bed frame and wooden table. Light comes in from a window.Angus Mackay Photography

The houses are on farms, crofts and rural estates.

Mr Mackay said he was intrigued by lives once lived in the properties, and he came across personal items left behind by their former residents.

He said: "Why were they there in the first place, why did they leave, and why did nobody replace them?"

Mr Mackay added: "Although I use the word 'abandoned' to describe the former homes in the book, it is by no means intended as a criticism of those that own them, as there are so many perfectly valid reasons why it can happen."

He said there are plans to modernise some of the properties so they could be lived in again.

The exhibition, called Abandoned, is showing at Waterlines in Lybster village until Saturday 21 December.

There is a collection of objects on a dusty floor. They include an old photograph of a man sitting on a wall, matchbooks, gun cartridges, a fountain pen and rusty bullets.Angus Mackay Photography
The room has bare floorboards and the walls are stripped of wallpaper and covered in mould. There are two wooden chairs along one wall and opposite them a small white table. Debris spills out from a fireplace. Angus Mackay Photography
The window is dirty and covered in thick cobwebs. Angus Mackay Photography
A dial on a yellow wall. The glass front is smashed and numbers and the word "slow" are visible on the dial.Angus Mackay Photography
Plaster and rubbish covers the floor of the room. There is a window with most of the glass missing and red wooden door that is ajar. An old fireplace is partially blocked up.Angus Mackay Photography
The cottage has a big crack down one exterior wall. There is no front door or glass in the windows. Yellow lichen covers the slate roof.Angus Mackay Photography
The room has wall paper stripped from the walls. There is a pile of debris on the floor and an Aga-style cooker on the gable end wall.Angus Mackay Photography
Looking out through a window of the abandoned house. The window has a tattered blind. There is a sink and on it an old kettle.Angus Mackay Photography
An aerial image of the farm house and outbuildings. There is a road that snakes by the property. Behind the farm house are trees. Angus Mackay Photography

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