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St Kilda, Hirta, Village Bay, Blackhouse T
Blackhouse (19th Century)
Site Name St Kilda, Hirta, Village Bay, Blackhouse T
Classification Blackhouse (19th Century)
Canmore ID 300987
Site Number NF09NE 40
NGR NF 09922 99312
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/300987
- Council Western Isles
- Parish Harris
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
Field Visit (29 August 2014)
This ruinous blackhouse is set into the slope on croft no. 15. Tenanted by a succession of the Gillies family, it was probably built by John Gillies (b.1778-d.1845) – see Lawson 1993, 32. The building measures 8.22m from NNW to SSE by 3.21m transversely within walls that average 1.6m in thickness and stand up to 1.9m in internal height, and 2.77m in height where the NNW gable has been added. A cement raggle along the ENE and NNW wallheads indicates the edge of the last roof. The doorway and two window openings are set into the ENE side-wall. A depression in the centre of the floor runs much of the length of the building, feeding a drain which is visible under the street to the SE; this hollow presumably represents the latest phase of use, when the whole building was used as a byre.
The southern end of the building was rebuilt in 1995 (Johnstone 1998).
Visited by RCAHMS (GFG, AM, JM) 29 August 2014
Measured Survey (29 August 2014)
RCAHMS surveyed Blackhouse T (NF09 NW 40), Village Bay, St Kilda on 29 August 2014 with plane-table and alidade at a scale of 1:100. The resultant plan was redrawn in vector graphics software and published at a scale of 1:200 (Gannon and Geddes 2015, 101).
