Crombie Biggin

A lovely mild day

It was such a lovely day we decided to walk round Crombie Loch. It was a distance of two and a half miles, a good step up from the last walk of one and a half miles.

As we went round we stopped at this old 19th Century Biggin, or ‘but and ben’. They were built from local stone, held together with clay mortar and roofed with Carmyllie grey slate, which replaced the thatched roofs once made with broom, heather or straw. This But and Ben with its small windows of four panes and a fireplace at each gable end typifies the uniform appearance of modern 19th Century rural cottages. No longer did the cattle live under the same roof or share the same entrance as their owner.