St Kilda, Hirta, Village Bay, Blackhouse D

RCAHMS surveyed Blackhouse D (NF19 NW 21.28), Village Bay, St Kilda between 31 August and 1 September 2014 with plane-table and alidade at a scale of 1:100. The resultant plan was redrawn in vector graphics software.

This ruinous range, retained between two later houses, consists of a black house situated end-on to the street and an annexe attached to the higher N end. This building was occupied by church elder and ground officer Neil Ferguson and his family in 1858 (SAS Mss 158; Johnstone 1998, 13), a family that is mentioned many times in St Kildan history (Quine 1988, 249-267).

The main unit, which has been set into the natural slope and has been reduced in length, now measures 5.23m by 3.23m within side-walls about 1.5m thick and gables 2.2m and 2.6m thick on the N and S respectively. The side- walls measure 1.75m in internal height but the N end-wall reaches a height of 2.45m. Externally the walls are battered and the corners are rounded. There is a doorway and window in the E wall, and dooks in the door jambs indicate the position of the door frame. A line of turf on the wallhead at the NE corner indicates the position of the last roof. Tarred felt and fragments of re-used zinc sheeting have been added above the window openings and fragments of modern concrete in the wallhead suggest more recent rebuilding. A short scarp in the interior may represent the position of the original tallan – the partition, usually about 0.9m high, that was used to separate that part of the building used by cattle. The SW wall has been partly rebuilt, reflected by two joints in the external face, presumably in connection with the adjacent Post Office in 1922.

Set at a higher level and partly overlying the old N wall of the main unit, the shortened annexe now measures 2.51m from E to W by 2.34 transversely within walls up to 1m thick and 1.35m and 1.95m high at the side- and end-walls respectively. There is a doorway in the E wall and a window in the W but both have lost their lintels. This building is depicted as being used to store manure on the 1858 plan, but the inclusion of a window in its shortened form suggests it provided accommodation at a later date.

Visited by RCAHMS (GFG, AM, JM) September 2014.