Description

The monument comprises a deserted township which occupies a clearing in a forestry plantation at the head of Caol Scotnish. A built-up track approaches the settlement from the NW, crossing the stream by a slab-linteled bridge.

Arichonan was the largest and most important of a group of five townships extending N to Loch Crinan and feued in 1654 by the Campbells of Auchnabreck to Neill MacNeill whose descendents held the estate until the late 18th Century. In 1802, when the estate had passed to the Malcolms of Poltalloch, it was reported that there were four tenants, and there were only three by 1848 when Clearance led to public affray (several inhabitants were imprisoned).

This event was influential on the motivation of the Rev. Donald MacCallum, a leading figure in the "Crofters' Wars" of the 1880s. The settlement remains consist of four groups of buildings, one of which was remodelled as a shepherd's cottage with attached fank and was still roofed in 1898.

Vernacular architectural features of note include: several examples of well-preserved cruck couplings; an early 18th-century inscription on a quoin (Neil McMillan/Arichonan); a winnowing barn with dated lintel (1833), triangular windows, cruck couples and stone thatch-pegs; and a two-unit clay-mortared building with a store or barn, with a joisted upper floor entered from adjacent higher ground through the NE gable.

The area to be scheduled is irregular on plan and measures a maximum of 240m from SW to NE by 150m transversely, to include the township, trackway and bridge and an area around in which associated remains may survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it is an exceedingly well preserved example of a deserted township possessing a wide range of unnusual and interesting architectural features. The multi-period site has an early history, is well documented and is of particular social significance for the history of the Argyll Clearances.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NR79SE 23.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland