Blackhouse

A blackhouse (also called the Scottish blackhouse) is a typical dwelling built on local available resources, protective against the harsh elements of the Hebrides but equally harsh in its way of living. In particular these were dwellings were designed for animals and people living together, without windows or a chimney, relying on a combination of an open peat fire in the centre of the space, burning slowly with the warmth of the livestock for heating. The smoke in the room, protected against insects but was clearly less than healthy.

They were occupied by crofters, with rights to graze animals such as sheep or cows in the local area, living as close to their stock as possible. The last crofters living in this way in such blackhouse dwellings vacated their properties in the 1900's, when new health regulations required byre (or barn) and the dwelling to be separated by a wall. This created a new type of dwelling. The old houses referred to as taighean or taigh-dubh (‘houses’) were replaced with taigh-geal, these new dwellings became known a white houses, whilst the older were referred to as blackhouses.

The earliest blackhouses were constructed as much as 5,000 years ago, with drystone walls, roofed using timber rafters, which were then covered in turf and thatch, in some cases turf sods were also used within the walls as a fill material.

See also: Re-thatching a Hebridean blackhouse.

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