The blackhouse was lived in just over 100 years ago but their origins are ancient as similar longhouses were built in Orkney, Shetland and Newfoundland. During their time, a blackhouse was simply called a house, then lime-mortar walled houses, which were the type of houses built on the mainland, were introduced to Lewis. The contrast in house design led to the new houses being termed white houses while the older houses were referred to as blackhouses.
The blackhouse had a low entry, the walls were double stone with the cavity filled with earth and peat-dust, this was set on a foundation of pebbles so the house would not sink into the clay. The walls were topped with clay to keep the water out.
The roof was made from driftwood, then the roof and wall-head were covered with turf for insulation and on top of that was thatch (oat straw). The area above the peat fire was not covered with turf, only thatch to allow the peat smoke to escape, there was no chimney. The peat fire smoke killed bugs, the tar helped preserve the driftwood roofing and they could hang meat and fish for smoking.
It is very windy on Lewis; therefore, the thatch was held down with a series of heather ropes weighted down with rocks, it was like a large hair net to hold the roof on.
A blackhouse held everything: humans, animals and food. The byre held cattle, sheep and chickens, the barn held potatoes and sheaves and the main area housed the people. A peat fire burned continually in the centre of the floor in the main room, then the box beds were in the next room. The blackhouse was very dark and smoky, a peat fire was burning in the blackhouse at the museum, the smoke does not smell as bad as smoke from a wood fire and it did not burn our eyes, although it was very smoky. Housing everything in one structure made it warmer and required fewer buildings.
We asked the attendant a lot of questions, he said that the thatch was upgraded every year and the thatch above the peat fire was replaced every year and used in the field for fertilizer. It had to be replaced or it would clog up with tar. Interestingly, the rate of TB was very low in Lewis and one theory is that the peat smoke had something to do with that.
In the ruined blackhouse, the byre housed horses which were used for ploughing, the owner of that blackhouse had more money than was usual. It took a lot more stone and a lot more work to house horses because the walls had to be much higher.
Lewis War Memorial
From a population of 29,000 at the outbreak of WWI, 6,172 men from the Isle of Lewis served in the war, of which 1,151 were killed. This was the highest percentage of losses to population of the entire British Empire during WWI.
The Lewis War Memorial is patterned after a Scottish baronial castle, it is a huge memorial. Set atop a large hill in Stornoway, it is visible from a wide area. The panels which list the soldiers killed used to be inside the tower but water damage forced the removal of the panels. They attached the panels to large stones and placed them in a stone circle, there is a stone circle in Lewis which we will visit tomorrow.
Walking down a road, John was wondering why there was a top wire on the fence which held in the sheep. I said maybe that is to stop pole vaulting sheep, that must have stuck in his brain as I see he has selected this photo for the blog, that is my guess anyway, I don't really know why this pic got in here, hahahahahahaha.
Lewis is fantastic, the people are really nice, if the sun ever comes out we are gunning it for Harris, it is supposed to be wonderful, very rocky and very different from Lewis.
The Iolaire Disaster
On New Year’s Eve of 1918, WWI troops returning home to Lewis and Harris boarded the wooden vessel HM Yacht Iolaire at the Kyle of Lochalsh on mainland Scotland to sail to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. Near Stornoway, the vessel wrecked on rock known as the ‘Beasts of Holm,’ just off the coast.
Although the wreck took place only 50 feet from shore and at one point the stern was within 20 feet from shore, it was difficult for any of the men to get ashore unaided in stormy seas. John MacLeod managed to gain the shore with a rope and 30 to 40 men were able to reach shore via the rope until the boat healed and pulled the rope away. The last survivor clung to the mast all night until rescue the next day.
This very tragic event affected every family directly or indirectly on Lewis as it was a close-knit island community. 205 men perished in the disaster, only 79 of the 284 passengers and crew survived.
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