General view of black houses

Description General view of black houses

Date 13/8/1906

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 746292

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of IN 932

Scope and Content Eilean a' Ghiorr, North Uist, Western Isles Eilean a' Ghiorr is one of a group of small islets that lie in the North Ford, an area of low-lying islands which forms part of a devious 5km thoroughfare between North Uist and its neighbouring island, Benbecula, to the south. Erskine Beveridge photographed Eilean a' Ghiorr c.1897, providing a unique photographic record of some of the traditional blackhouses on the island. These small squat houses, probably dating from the early 19th century, have thick, rounded walls constructed of local stones and boulders held together without mortar. The wall-head forms a broad ledge which extends round the building and has a thick layer of grassy sods which provides good grazing for sheep. The roof is of thatch, fastened down by heavy ropes which criss-cross over the roof. At the apex of each hip of the roof is a protruding stick, a 'raven-stick', which serves as an anchor for the ropes that hold the thatch on the hip. The roof of the house on the left is not thatched, but covered with turfs, laid green sides down, and secured with ropes anchored by large stones. These traditional island blackhouses are unique to the Hebrides, and their architecture and layout carry on traditions of a form of living and working that is very old. The name 'blackhouse' comes from the Gaelic 'tigh dubh', and until about 1850, nearly all the buildings on North Uist were of a similar character. However, from the 1850s new buildings of a mainland type began to appear, and their walls, cemented with lime mortar, presented such a contrast that they got the name 'tigh geal' or 'white house'. The antonym 'tigh dubh' was then applied to the older houses. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap