Auchindrain, Furnace, Inveraray, Argyll, PA32 8XN Tel: +44(0)1499 500235. Scottish Charity Number SC015528 © 2011-12 Auchindrain Trust       Website by SKWebpages What is a Township? The township, toun or baile was the most common and typical form of rural settlement in  Scotland before modern times, and is thus highly significant within Scottish history.    Auchindrain’s status as the last actively-worked survivor makes it worthy of note, but the  site’s real significance is that as the result of a particular and very unusual sequence of  events it continued sufficiently late into the 20th century for its importance to be  recognised and for it to come into preservation almost as soon as farming ceased.    Another consequence of these events was that the township’s layout and buildings to a  significant extent continued to reflect the traditions and practices of the period before  agricultural improvement, and also in themselves changed relatively little from the mid  19th century.    Despite what may have been written in the  past the site is not an unimproved township  that was somehow bypassed by history, but  it comes significantly closer than anywhere  else to reflecting the atmosphere and  appearance of townships as they were  before the big changes to farming and  society that took place in the late 18th and  early 19th centuries. In this respect, there is  nowhere else like it in Scotland.    Auchindrain What is a Township? ABOUT: Agricultural improvements and Change The Significance of Auchindrain The Evolution of Auchindrain