Fences and Dykes
The typical old wall constructed to keep animals out of the crops was made of feal (turf), built 4 ft - 5 ft. high, 3 ft - 4 ft. at the base and narrowing to 2 ft at the top. Such walls were easily broken by animals and each year after the crops were sown dykes had to be repaired. Shortly after the middle of the 18th century stone dykes were constructed on Thurso East Farm. Initially the tops of these dykes were covered with sods but later tough stone coping was used. The planting of hedges, many of them hawthorn, towards the end of the 18th century compartmented and visually improved the landscape.

Published October 1974