Amusing Dunia: Blackhouses of Scotland

Hundreds of years agone the highlands of Scotland too Republic of Ireland were dotted amongst a type of identify called blackhouses. These were long narrow buildings , oft position inward parallel to other blackhouses , amongst dry-stone walls too thatched roofs rendered dark amongst soot. The fume came from a peat burn downwards that was lit at all times inward the pump of the kitchen too living area. As appalling every bit it sounds , the houses had no chimneys too real modest windows leading to a suffocating accumulation of fume inside. The fume escaped through the porous roof , slow blackening the turf or straw inward the process.

The fume killed bugs living inward the roof. Smoked thatch was also considered an first-class fertilizer. So every twelvemonth , the roof was stripped downwards too the blackened thatch used to fertilize their fields , piece the roof was rethatched to provide for adjacent year.

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Blackhouses inward Gearrannan , Isle of Lewis. Photo credit: Iñaki Barrutiabengoa/Panoramio

Smoke wasn’t the solely matter these people lived with. They also shared their living infinite amongst animals. People lived at ane terminate too the animals lived at the other amongst a segmentation betwixt them. Both animals too the human occupants shared the same door. The flooring was commonly earthen , at to the lowest degree on the side of the animals , too at that topographic point was commonly a drain for some of the creature waste. Part of the blackhouse was also used every bit barn for storage too processing of grain too other products.

Although it may look thus , blackhouses were non named because of their smoke-filled rooms too dark roofs , simply because they were compared to novel houses that were beingness built inward the belatedly 1800s. These houses were built amongst stones too lime mortar rather than rock too globe which presented such a contrast that people started calling them “white house”. The term “black house” was thus applied to the one-time houses. The novel “white houses” were built every bit a consequence of stricter heath regulations that required separation of humans from their livestock too animals.

Unbelievably , some of the blackhouses were withal inhabited until the middle 1970s , although afterward structure had fireplaces too chimneys.

One of the best places to come across blackhouses is at the Isle of Lewis , inward the Outer Hebrides. In the hamlet of Gearrannan , at that topographic point are several restored blackhouses every bit good every bit a museum. In the hamlet of Arnol every bit good , at that topographic point are ruins of blackhouses everywhere. Few of them are withal roofed. One blackhouse has been carefully preserved since the occupants moved out inward the 1960s , too turned into a museum. The edifice , consummate amongst internal fittings , gives a real proficient impression of what is would accept been similar to alive inward a blackhouse.

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