St Kilda, Hirta, Village Bay, Blackhouse X

This ruinous blackhouse is aligned up and down the slope and measures 6.45m from N to S by 3.38m transversely within walls up to 1.7m thick which stand up to 1.6m in height. Although some sections of the walls are reduced in height, stones and turf along the wallheads on the N and NE indicate the position of the edge of the last hipped roof. The walls show a higher incidence of pinnings than is normal, perhaps reflecting modern repairs. The door and window are in the E wall, but the door lintel has fallen in to the interior. A byre-drain is visible outside the gable.

This building may have been used by the Ferguson or Macdonald families prior to the emigration of tenants from this part of the island in 1852, as it shares a number of characteristics with the other buildings constructed in the 1830s. However, it is not shown on a plan of 1858 (SAS Mss 158) and was roofed and presumably in use in c1886 when Norman Macleod photographed the township for George Washington Wilson (University of Aberdeen Special Collections 17302).

An adjacent structure, referred to as Blackhouse Y (NF19NW 21.52) is too broad to be considered the remains of a blackhouse.

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

RCAHMS surveyed Blackhouse X (NF19 NW 21.51), 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.