Meanno: In the 19th century a crofting tenancy would tend to stay in a family.
Even to this day it is mentioned that my MacDonald branch from Sangobeg moved into the "Mather croft" on Sangomore, on the other side of the hill. This happened in 1894
Crofts in Sangomore had a fair amount of land attached, so would be retained until there was nobody left to work the croft.
There's a house on that exact spot on the 1874 OS map, but over the years it changed a lot. There were three parts to the property then, which allows for the presence of Janet Mcculloch as a "servant" (she might well have been a cousin as well). The photo you post is from 2009 before the house was demolished. You will see that the main house runs parallel to the road, with an extension to the roadside.
Original dwellings were at right angles to the road. If you scroll to the left, you will see a much older and rougher structure that was the size and shape of an 18th/early 19th century croft house. That was probably the original dwelling, with the main part of the house in your photo replacing it some time in the 1880s. The buildings on the OS map were set further back from the road.
After Robert and Hughina Sutherland's deaths in 1909 and 1910 the croft would have become the property of a descendant. As I'm sure you know they had six children. Bertie was born in Tain, but he would have retained an interest in his grandfather's croft, which he was certainly using a second home by the early 1950s. When he acquired it I don't know, but it's pretty likely to be the site of the original croft.
