Farmstead NC800004 - 3

The Sutherland Estate records of the early years of the 19th century list all the Estate's townships so it might be possible to discover the name of the farmstead and whether it was part of Strathlunndaidh.

The lists include an Achlunndaidh. The name suggests it is on or close to Loch Lunndaidh. Nick Lindsay writes that, "Strathlunndaidh and Achlunndaidh were part of the wadset held by John Fraser from 1802 to 1816, when he appears to have gone bankrupt and had to relinquish it back to the estate."

This evidence strongly suggests that Achlunndaidh may be NC800004, particularly as it is evident that NC800004 had only one dwelling and Achlundaidh in the Estate records had only one tenant in 1808, while Strathlundaidh had twelve.

There is a further point: 'ach' in Gaelic means 'field', possibly a reference to the number of fields around NC800004.

Achlunndaidh and Strathlunndaidh are both marked on Margaret Wilson Grant's map*, which was drawn from Estate records. Strathlunndaidh is marked about 0.5km SE of its true location while Achlunndaidh is shown as being at the NW end of Loch Lunndaidh. In fairness to her, she does state that the positions are approximate.

A few minutes spent on the satellite image of the area shows that there is no sign of any cultivation in the area that Margaret Grant has her 'Achlundy' so it still seems possible that NC800004 is Achlunndaidh.

* in 'Golspie's Story', 1977.