Buchts were used in the 17th and 18th centuries to milk sheep and to carry out other activities such as shearing and smearing the sheep fleeces.
The buchts were simple rectangular enclosures built with turf, roofless and open ended at one end which would have been closed by a gate. Often a narrow side entrance was made which may have been used to eject each sheep after milking.
Buchts are often confused with shieling huts, but the latter are located miles from the farm to allow overnight accommodation for the shepherd, whereas buchts are usually found within a few minutes of the farm.
On the other side of the valley an area enclosed by a large stone and turf bank is visible; this may have been a cattle pound because the walls were so substantial. The two large fields now enclosed by 19th century dry stane dykes were originally enclosed by turf walls. These fields may have been used to grow some crops; certainly, fodder was grown to over winter the cattle in the byres.
