General view of black house

Description General view of black house

Date 22/5/1903

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

Catalogue Number SC 746941

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of IN 933

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. This photograph of the island, taken c.1897 looking north-east towards Eaval, the highest hill on North Uist, is by Erskine Beveridge. This small squat cottage (left), which seems to rise out of the landscape, is built in the traditional style of the island blackhouse. Probably dating from the early 19th century, the cottage has low rounded walls, constructed from local stone and held together without mortar. The roof is hip-ended, the pitch of the hip-ends being steeper than that of the side slopes. It is thatched, the thatch being secured by ropes which criss-cross over the roof and which, in turn, are secured by large anchor stones. A protruding stick at the apex of each hip serves as an anchor for the ropes that hold the thatch on the hip. Low drystone walls surrounded the yard and kitchen garden at the back of the house. Erskine Beveridge (1851-1920), writer, antiquarian and linen manufacturer, had a private income which allowed him to indulge his two main passions, archaeology and photography. He built a house and lived for many years on Vallay, an island connected at low tide to the north coast of North Uist, and this gave him the opportunity to explore and photograph many of the numerous small, isolated, but then inhabited, islands that surround the coastline. His collection of landscapes are of excellent quality and composition, and his photographs of the traditional island blackhouses have provided a valuable record of a style of architecture unique to the Hebrides. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap