#crofting

Hebridean blackhouse (taigh-dubh), Baile an Truiseil, Leòdhas, Western Isles.

This blackhouse was built between 1852 and 1895, and was the home of a crofting family and their animals until 1965, when they moved out. It is still fully furnished and preserved almost as the last family left it.

Blackhouses were very different from modern homes, as they housed animals as well as people, had rounded corners, had no chimney or windows. Sharing with animals made the house warmer and meant fewer buildings were needed.

The blackhouse has a central door. Inside is an aig an teine (‘living room’) and a bathaich (‘cattle byre’), with a parallel sabhal (‘barn’). A peat fire burns in the open hearth with the smoke filteeing thrlugh the roof. It is in the centre of the living room and it was the heart of family life, never allowed to go out. Smoke from the peat fire killed insects, and the smoke-laden thatch, which was replaced every so often, made excellent fertiliser for the fields. (Arnol, Eilean Siar, United Kingdom)