Lane Head, Allendale. Photo by Peter Ryder.

The original building at Lane Head was a bastle. Since it was built in the late 16th or early 17th century it has been extended and remodelled in the 19th and 20th centuries. The original building measured 9m long by 6.3m wide, and its north wall is 1m thick. A study of the building in the 1990s showed that the front wall of the house had been rebuilt in about 1800. However, the remaining walls are of a very different character and have features of a bastle such as slit vents. Massive pieces of stone have been used in the rear door and probably came from the original byre doorway.