A long field barn preserves the winnowing doors and slit vents of the working landscape around Kiltearn’s former manse.
Quick facts
- Date
- Late eighteenth or early nineteenth century; later enlarged opening
- Architect / designer
- Not identified in the checked sources
- Type
- Long rubble-built threshing barn
- Designation
- Listed building, Category C (LB7917)
- OS grid reference
- NH 61680 65353
Architecture and continuing use
Rubble walls carry a slate roof over a long rectangular range. Opposed winnowing doors near the centre allowed a cross-draught through the threshing floor, while rows of narrow slit vents aired stored crops. A broad later opening in the east wall records changing farm machinery or use.
Its story
The barn was built in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century as part of the manse’s agricultural setting. It remained physically distinct from the nearby stable-and-byre range. Later enlargement of an eastern opening adapted the building without erasing its characteristic ventilation and threshing arrangement.
Why it is included
It is an unusually direct reminder that parish institutions depended on productive land, animals and crop storage as well as church and house.
What to notice
- Opposed central doors arranged for winnowing.
- Long narrow ventilation slits in the rubble walls.
- The contrast between original small openings and the later broad entrance.
Reading the surroundings
The barn stands in a field and is not presented as a visitor building. Do not cross fences, enter agricultural land or approach unstable fabric without permission.
Timeline
- Late 18th–early 19th century A purpose-built barn was added to the manse’s working landscape.
- Later 19th or 20th century A broad opening altered one end for changed agricultural needs.
- 1971 The barn entered the statutory list at Category C.
What we know — and what remains uncertain
The listing supplies a broad date range but no builder or exact alteration year. Current use and structural condition require owner confirmation.
Sources & further reading
- Historic Environment Scotland: Kiltearn Former Manse Barn, LB7917 — Current designation status, statutory identity, official mapped point, date, fabric and significance.
- Trove: Kiltearn Former Manse Barn — National collection entry corroborating designation identity, mapped position and related archive material.
- Highland Historic Environment Record: Kiltearn Old Kirk graveyard survey — Community survey evidence for the range and dates of surviving memorials.
- National Library of Scotland: georeferenced historic maps — Historic-map comparison for Evanton, Kiltearn and the Novar estate; individual map dates and layers should be checked.
Location
OS grid reference NH 61680 65353 · Location confidence: High for the current HES designation point; public text separately qualifies the extent of multi-part sites, access and any present-use uncertainty. · Select the marker to open its satellite view in Google Maps. On desktop, drag Pegman (the yellow figure) onto a blue road. On mobile, turn on the Street View layer and tap a blue road. Other photo markers may be user-contributed.
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