Worries over traditional Scottish longhouse The Corr
- Published
A warning is issued that a unique example of a way of life is in danger of being lost after a crofting house came on to the market
As period features go the Caithness property has plenty - a thatched roof, cart shed and an external wash house.
Situated off the A9 at Latheron, near Wick, its panoramic location is breathtaking, but its walk-in condition is not and there are fears the historic croft settlement could disappear if a buyer cannot be found.
The property - the last inhabited thatched roof property in Caithness - has been put on the market at a price of £200,000.
Called The Corr, the home and its outbuildings were constructed in the late 1800s and it is one of the last longhouses of its kind left in Scotland.
Two elderly sisters had lived in the property until relatively recently.
According to local resident Jim MacGregor, who was a visitor to the house when it was still occupied, the sisters' father was an accomplished piper.
However, he did not hand down his piping skills as to do so with girls was frowned on at the time.
Two elderly sisters lived in the house until relatively recently
The Corr is on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland.
Its entry on the register says: "The Corr is unique in the survival of an original extended longhouse, but it also represents the natural growth into a small self sufficient working farm of many functions with ranges of buildings still surviving.
"It has been lived and worked in the traditional way until relatively recently."
Highland Council's Historic Environment Record has the longhouse, external and the outbuildings, external on its database.
'Very Spartan'
Bunty Gunn, of the Highland Building Preservation Trust, lives nearby and hopes the complex could be saved and turned into a heritage centre before its condition deteriorates any further.
She said: "It is sad to see somewhere go as quickly.
"That is one of the awful things that one realises about this part of the world - the moment the thatch descends from the chimney stacks the water gets in and very quickly you have a damp house.
"But the two ladies had lived in some comfort. The remains of carpets that are there are jolly nice."
Bunty added, however: "It is very Spartan in its amenities."
She went on: "It is very important historically."