High Clachan farm, Kirkcolm. A Victorian farmhouse flanked by substantial outbuildings which makes a strong group in the landscape. Some of the nearby buildings have chimneys and were clearly houses in the past suggesting that the group may indeed once have been a traditional clachan as found in Scotland and Ireland. This is where a group of farm houses were surrounded by a system of infields and outfields. The system, known as the rundale system was largely superseded in the nineteenth century as farming practices changed and landlords became more aware of the benefit of rotating land use. In many cases, as appears to have been the situation here, clachans were then converted to a single larger farm. The current arrangement is shown on the first Ordnance Survey of the area taken between 1845 and 1856.
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