Harris Blackhouse

Borvemor Blackhouse ('Tigh Dubh' in Gaelic) on machair land on the Isle of Harris with beach dunes and the snow-capped North Harris hills beyond.

This house is actually available for holiday lets and was built in the year 1993, and is the first traditional "Blackhouse" to be built for over a century. Traditionally, these buildings were generally built throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland with double wall dry-stone walls packed with earth, and were roofed with wooden rafters covered with a thatch of turf with cereal straw or reed. The floor was generally flagstones or packed earth and there was a central hearth for the fire. There was no chimney (although there is in this modern version) for the smoke to escape through. Instead the smoke made its way through the roof. This led to the soot blackening of the interior which may also have contributed to the adoption of name blackhouse.

The blackhouse was used to accommodate livestock as well as people. People lived at one end and the animals lived at the other with a partition between them.

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