Bastle House Scabgill was only found to be a bastle house in the late 1990s. The house is in two parts - a typical 19th century farm house to which is attached a much older structure. The older part dates back to the 16th century. It has 3 feet thick walls, a vaulted ground floor and tiny windows. These are all features of a bastle house. A bastle house is a fortified farm house and Scabgill is the most northerly example of this particular type of fortified farm. Comment Excavation of the site, which has been fairly disturbed by redevelopment, would not be worthwhile. Neither would a resistivity survey be profitable. Perhaps the best thing would be to do a series of photographs and a measured drawing of the site.
Bastle House Scabgill was only found to be a bastle house in the late 1990s. The house is in two parts - a typical 19th century farm house to which is attached a much older structure. The older part dates back to the 16th century. It has 3 feet thick walls, a vaulted ground floor and tiny windows. These are all features of a bastle house. A bastle house is a fortified farm house and Scabgill is the most northerly example of this particular type of fortified farm. Comment Excavation of the site, which has been fairly disturbed by redevelopment, would not be worthwhile. Neither would a resistivity survey be profitable. Perhaps the best thing would be to do a series of photographs and a measured drawing of the site.
Archaeological-Study-Medieval.docx