Upper Gylen

3D Model

Alongside the popular walking route from the Calmac ferry landing stage to Gylen Castle at the south end of the island (and the even more popular tea rooms!) there is a small ruined cottage to the east of the track on a low knoll. It is well worth pausing your progress before heading to the crest of the final hill before the trail runs dowwnhill to the castle and tearooms.

The cottage is the best preserved ruin of a small farming township which occupied this area and is thought to be post mediaeval. Unusually in Scotland, it incorporates a cruck framed roof which was embedded into the cottage’s walls in long deep recesses in each of the long walls. There are 12 small triangular unglazed windows built into its solid stone walls, each framed by poor quality slate of shale sheets - a material also used for the bulk of the walls of the cottage and freely available on the island.

Just behind the cottage there is a small stone-slab bridge which has been placed over a very small stream (see other models)