Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
AUCHENHALRIG, n. Also corrupt form Andinharlie (Mry. 1884 Trans. Highl. Soc. 27). A style of building with clay and straw reputed to have been first used at Auchenhalrig in Moray. [ɑxən′hɑlrɪg]Abd. 1877 W. Alexander Rural Life 11:
Of the Auchenhalrig walls and the mode of constructing them, a detailed description informs us that:— “This work is built of small stones and mud, or clay, mixed with straw. The proportions of these materials required to make a rood of thirty-six square yards are . . . about thirty cart loads of stones, ten cart loads of clay or mud, and twenty-four stones weight of good fresh straw.” The straw and mud being properly worked together, “twenty-two inches are sufficient thickness for a wall of seven feet high—if higher they should be two feet thick— carried up perpendicularly the same as other walls, and care should be taken never to build more than two or three feet in height in any one part in the same day; if raised more, the wall is apt to swell, for which there is no remedy but to pull it down and rebuild.” These walls were “equal to the weight of any roof commonly put on mason work.” and would, “when properly built, and kept well under thatch, last for more than a century.”
