Building 13 is distinguished from the others excavated at Glenochar by the large stones used to construct the walls. Before the south gable was rebuilt, the original internal dimensions were 11m x 5m. The original wall face can now be seen with some of the later walls stones placed in front. Proof that the room was reduced in size rather than expanded was shown by the floor surface extending below the secondary wall abutting on the original. The same was found in all other buildings which had secondary walls.
As with all other buildings left exposed to view, floor surfaces are the key to interpreting the functions of the buildings. Open drains mean byres and usually these drains are paralleled with a space between the cobbled floor and the wall, interpreted as for the wooden feeding troughs. In building 13, about three-quarters of the room length on the west side is given over to an animal stance, which to the north a small chamber has been created by a short wall. This end of the room had three prominent hearths which had been extensively used, causing stone settings to become totally heat crazed. Two of these fireplaces are now indicated with modern tinted stone and the third is still on view. Fireplaces indicate that the area was occupied by people, with the little chamber perhaps used as a sleeping area.
It is important to realise that the floor surfaces seen in these buildings show the last period of occupation before abandonment. Most of the floors are several layers deep. Archaeologists removed only minimal areas to establish this, and usually these were the interstices where floors had been pulled out in antiquity. The rational was to leave as much of the site intact as possible, with a view to having the buildings left exposed for the purpose of the trail. In building 13, a succession of layers of burnt earth and ash interdigitating with layers of clean clayey burn gravel lie beneath existing cobble stonbes amnd indicate that this end of the room was originally given over to human occupation, contrary to the latter day domiation of the chamber by animals. It would appear that occupants simply laid a fresh gravel layer over the floor for cleanliness. As a consequence, the original floor surface was raised by 0.3m before the final phase involving the byre arrangements of cobbles and drain was installed.
The positions of three pairs of roof crucks were found set within the long west wall and one in the north-east corner of the room. Although the east wall was almost completely robbed, the two other cruck pads survived. The central pair were slightly askew. The chamber was originally spanned by three pairs of crucks and, judging by the size of the cruck slots in the walls, these were substantial timbers. This is the best evidence on the site for roof construction and is a rare example of such in Scotland for a 17thcentury building. Two large pits, interpreted as post holes, were found opposing one another and just north of the central cruck frame position. These may have been an emergency repair to a sagging roof towards the end of the building’s occupation.
Building 13 is the only excavated example on the site which did not continue in use until the fermtoun was abandoned in the mid 18thcentury. This is rather perplexing because it was such a fine building for its day. Objects, including types of tobacco pipes, found within it indicate that it was deserted by the mid 17th century. No 18th century pottery or bottle glass were found.
As previously stated, the building was almost totally obscured beneath the ground prior to excavation. The 0.5m depth of soil overlaying it probably came from the turf walls and possibly also from the roof. Sometime in the 18th century, the site was used to create two circular stack stands. These lay 0.3M above the cobbled floor surface, and could have been used in association with building 14.
