Documents

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• Type

  Map

  Title

  Map for 6 Borgaidh, Sgeara, Inbhir Theòrsa / 6 Borgie, Skerray, Thurso (LB18467)

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600040660)

Summary

Description

A single-storey and attic, three-bay house built 1920-1 as veteran's housing. It is rectangular on plan, with a lean-to outshot to the rear (north) elevation, and is constructed of rubble masonry with tooled rubble dressings. The roof is pitched and slated with coped end stacks. There are a pair of gabled weatherboarded dormers breaking the eaves on the main (south) elevation. On the north (rear) elevation is a gable with an engaged coped wallhead stack and a replacement tiled roof to the outshot. The doors and windows are all timber replacements (circa 2001).

The house is located to the east of Tongue, south of Borgie Lodge Hotel, between the Borgie to Skerray road and the River Borgie. It is set in its own garden with a rubble stone boundary wall. To the east of the house are modern chicken sheds and a garage, and beyond these a large modern agricultural building. There are five houses of similar date and style to the northwest, all of which are south-facing and line the east side of the Borgie to Skerray road.

Historical background

The house and steading first appear on the Ordnance Survey One-inch 'Popular' edition map of 1930. The property was one of nine crofts that were built in 1920-1, of which six are located within this immediate area to the east of the main road.

Borgie Estate was owned by the dukes of Sutherland and centred on a 19^th century shooting lodge called Borgie House, now the Borgie Lodge Hotel. In 1914, it was included among 12,000 acres of sheep farming estate advertised for sale by the 5^th Duke of Sutherland after the death of his father. However, after failing to attract buyers, Borgie Estate was ultimately gifted to the Crown in 1916 for the settlement of soldiers and sailors who had volunteered for service in the First World War. Several of them came from the local Clan Mackay, including the first occupant of 6 Borgie, John George Mackay. The Duke of Sutherland reserved the fishing rights for the estate and the right to select the soldiers to become tenants.

Each family was given a small holding consisting of a house and steading and the offer of employment in new tree plantations on the estate. The houses contained four rooms plus kitchen, scullery, larder and washhouse, and were completed along with the steadings by July 1921 (North Star and Farmers' Chronicle).

The settlement of Borgie Estate was an early part of the British Government's afforestation policy after the First World War, which aimed to create a strategic domestic supply of timber. In 1919, Borgie was the first area in the Highlands handed over to the newly established Forestry Commission. Borgie Forest is located southwest of the small holdings across the river and by 1980 133,000 hectares of woodland had been planted there.

The house at 6 Borgie appears to be largely unaltered to the exterior, except for the replacement of doors and windows.

The former steading was located on or near the site of the present chicken sheds but was demolished at some point between the date of listing in 1987 and the first Google imagery in 2009. A large agricultural shed was constructed further to the east of the house in 1998.

Statement of Special Interest

6 Borgaidh / 6 Borgie meets the criteria for listing for the following reasons:

• It is a good representative example of an early-20th century vernacular house, which retains much of its historic character and appears to be largely unaltered from the exterior.
• The building retains its historic setting and forms part of a group of buildings of similar date and type which are also listed.
• The loss of the steading has not significantly altered the historic character of the building. The house and steading typology remains clearly legible in other houses within the wider group.
• Dating to the early 1920s, it is a good example of veterans' housing, the rural setting of which is uncommon.
• It is representative of post-war policy for afforestation and resettling servicemen.

Architectural interest

The house is built in a modest vernacular style and is a good representative example of early-20^th century housing in a rural estate setting. It shows traditional construction methods and materials, and has a simple rectangular floor plan. It survives largely unaltered and the exterior retains many historic features, including the symmetrical arrangement of the main elevation, chimneystacks, dormers, and simple, good quality stonework and detailing. Later window replacement has not adversely affected the overall historic character.

It forms part of a group of six surviving veteran's houses of matching date and style, but each with slight differences in design or detailing. They are all separately listed at Category C (see refs: LB18463; LB18464; LB18465; LB18466; and LB19882). The historic setting of the group remains largely intact, adding to the special architectural interest. While the steading at 6 Borgie has been lost, the house and steading typology is still retained in several of the other houses in the group.

Historic interest

The house is of historical interest as part of a relatively unusual and early example of high-quality housing provision for servicemen in a rural location after the First World War. Housing for veterans was constructed under several private initiatives in Scotland in the 1920s and 1930s, most notable by the Douglas Haig Memorial Homes, and there are listed examples in Callander (ref: LB22909), Edinburgh (ref: LB46726) Elgin (ref: LB30776) and Pitlochry (ref: LB47539). The houses at Borgie are notable among these other examples for being small holdings in a rural location with the inclusion of land and a steading as part of the property.

The connection of the house to the nearby plantations at Borgie Forest is also of social historical interest, providing evidence of the early work of the Forestry Commission in the north of Scotland and of efforts to resettle and employ First World War servicemen.

Statutory address and listed building record revised in 2025. Previously listed as '6 Borgie and Steading'.

References

Bibliography

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