Showing posts with label sheep pen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sheep pen. Show all posts

Tuesday, 20 December 2022

Skulferatu #88 - Derelict Farmhouse, Upper Bardennoch, Moniaive, Dumfries and Galloway

 

Ah, what to do on the day they are burying a long serving monarch and you don’t really fancy being stuck in the house all day watching all that pomp and ceremony?  Well, taking a lead from a kids’ TV show I remember from the Seventies ‘Why Don’t You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead?’  I did just that.  I got up off my fat backside and went out for a walk up in the hills by the village of Moniaive.

 

Stopping off in Moniaive first of all, I wandered through the rather picturesque and very quiet village.  Everything was shut and no-one was out on the street, I assume because they were all staying in and watching the funeral.  Though, maybe they were all at home busy writing, composing and painting, as Moniaive is one of these places that despite its size has attracted many musicians, authors, and artists.  The artist James Paterson, one of the ‘Glasgow Boys’ lived here, as did the author of ‘Black Narcissus’, Rumer Godden, the comic book writer, Alan Grant, and the musician Alex Kapranos.

 

In the warm, afternoon sun I walked out of the village and up a track leading through some woods and then on to a steep, grassy, and bumpy path lined by two drystane dykes.  As I walked up the hill, I could see the sky around me darkening as the rain clouds came rolling in.

 

A photo showing the hills outside Moniaive with trees in the foreground and a cottage on top of the main hill.   Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The rolling hills outside of Moniaive

 

I made it up to the rather atmospheric ruins of Upper Bardennoch Farm where I had a staring competition with a ram who after sizing me up for a bit, wandered off and kept a wary eye on me from a safe distance.  Then the rain came down.  It poured and poured and soaked right through the cheap and nasty ‘waterproof’ jacket I was wearing.  Five minutes later the rain was gone, the sun was out again, and I was drying off nicely. 

 

A photo of a grassy path with a drystone dyke running up along the side of it - in the distance is a derelict looking cottage type building with a lone tree standing off to one side - this is Upper Bardennoch Farm.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The path up to Upper Bardennoch Farm

 

A photo showing a derelict cottage like building with a wall off to one side and a lone tree standing slightly away from the wall.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The derelict remains of Upper Bardennoch Farmhouse

 

A photo showing a closer view of the derelict cottage like building of Upper Bardennoch Farm with a wall off to one side and a lone tree standing slightly away from the wall.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The derelict remains of Upper Bardennoch Farmhouse

 

A view looking over a drystone wall to the ruins of Upper Bardennoch Farm.  The lone tree stands in the foreground.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View over Upper Bardennoch Farm

 

I had a wander around the ruins of the farm, which I suppose at some time in the not too distant past had been a home and a livelihood for someone but was now abandoned and falling down.  Parts of the farmhouse roof had caved in, and the doors and windows had been removed and replaced with iron bars to keep the curious out.  The remains of the outbuildings now served as nothing more than a place for sheep to shelter from the elements, with the ground in them a sludge of sheep poo and the walls a scraped fluff with tufts of wool.

 

A photo of a lone tree standing next to a grey drystane wall that forms a sheep pen.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Tree and sheep pen

 

A photo showing a triangular gap built into the drystane dyke wall of the sheep pen.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Gap in the wall

 

A view looking down onto fields and hills with the village of Moniaive in the centre.  Off to one side is a piece of land lit up in the sun while the rest is in the shadows of some dark rain clouds.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View from Upper Bardennoch over Moniaive

 

A photo of the ruined farmhouse of Upper Bardennoch Farm.  The windows and doors are gone with bars replacing the frames and the door.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Upper Bardennoch Farmhouse

 

I left a Skulferatu in one of the many cracks in the farmhouse walls and then I carried on with my walk to the top of Bardennoch Hill, before making my way back to Moniaive.

 

A photo of a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 88) being held up with the ruined farmhouse of Upper Bardennoch Farm in the background.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #88

 

A photo of a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 88) sitting in a crack in the walls of the ruined farmhouse at Upper Bardennoch Farm.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #88 in a crack in the farmhouse walls

 

Google Map showing location of Skulferatu #88
Map showing location of Skulferatu #88

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.206379

Longitude -3.91858

 

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