The rectangular depression in the foreground is all that remains of the buildings of a farmstead called Hillock. The area on which it stands is known locally as
NS4660 : The Rocks, a flat-topped knoll with outcrops at the ends; see also
NS4660 : The Rocks. The surrounding area would probably have been rather wet at times, given its situation at the foot of a slope (
NS4660 : Slopes below the Tannahill Walkway), so the natural platform here was a good choice of place to build upon (it seems probable that it also gave the farmstead its name).
The traces of Hillock are now rather faint; see
NS4660 : The remains of Hillock for a view across them from the other side. Even in 1858, when the first-edition OS map was surveyed, the site was recorded as "Hillock (ruin)"; the main farm building was oriented WNW-ESE: see
Link (at Canmore).
However, the site can be traced back further, using earlier maps. John Ainslie, in his "Map of the County of Renfrew" (1796) shows Hillock. He shows another farmstead, called Brae, just to the WNW; it is also long-gone, but it was located at c.
NS46636091.
[See
NS4560 : The remains of Stanelymoor for a discussion of other vanished farmsteads in the area.]
Roy's Military Survey of Scotland (1740s-50s) shows Brae, but not Hillock. The nearest farm ESE of Brae that is shown on Roy's map is Watlands (Wetlands on the Ainslie map), which was considerably further away in that direction.
For the houses in the background, on the left, see
NS4660 : Slopes below the Tannahill Walkway, where the same area appears on the right. The woods in the central part of the background of the present photograph are at c.
NS47136065, on the western side of Braehead Road. Although it is not visible from here,
NS4660 : The Tannahill Walkway is at the top of the slopes on the right; the same woods also appear in the background of that photograph.