The taxman's hand on the Cock of Arran.

 As the sun began to rise in the sky...

 ...we came to lonely Laggan Cottage. Last year an author was in residence but it appears he has moved on. The shutters were up so we left...

 ...the cottage and landed...

 ...at the long abandoned settlement of Cock.

We had noticed the buildings from the sea on a previous trip but this time we decided to explore ashore. This was a site where salt was manufactured between 1710 and 1735.

The crofters built their houses and work buildings on rocky outcrops leaving  as much of the fertile ground free for crops as possible. This was the remains of the salt excise office (salt was a valuable commodity and so was taxed). We were amazed that so early in the history of the united kingdom of Great Britain (1707) that the hand of the tax man had reached so far. The salt was used for preserving the many herring that were at one time caught in these waters. We noticed a bigger building in the distance...

...which was the pan house where...

 ...the salt pan full of water from the nearby sea was heated by burning coal fires underneath. The crude lignite coal was mined in the immediate vicinity of the buildings and today a number of shallow depressions in the ground mark the sites.

Today  the old buildings are slowly decaying and little alpine flowers have made their home in the crumbling mortar of the excise office. After three centuries, even the tax man's grip on the place has relaxed now relaxed.