by Ken Johnstone

Created on: June 02, 2009

My late mother was born in 1913 in a small village called Caverstay, south of Stornoway. Her first language was Scot's Gaelic and she only began to learn English when she went to Secondary School at about the age of twelve.
My grandfather was a crofter, weaver, and fisherman, and they lived a very simple, and self-sufficient, lifestyle without many of the luxuries that we simply take for granted nowadays. They had no electricity, and they cooked over an open fire.

The house that they lived in had been in the family for generations, and was an old straw and heather thatched 'Blackhouse', with old flagstone floors and rough stone walls, exactly like the house I am going to describe in this article, the Black House at 42, Arnol. Sadly, the old family home is no more. It was located at the side of a loch, and surrounded by rolling hills, peat bog, and moors covered in heather. But the family all moved to Stornoway when my mother was a teenager as my grandfather took up employment in one of the new Harris Tweed mills, and over the intervening years the old house became derelict. Today, all that remains are a few remnants of the 'dry stane' (dry stone) walls. So you can imagine my interest when I discovered on a recent trip to Lewis that a Blackhouse still remains, which has been restored to pristine condition by a group of people called 'Historic Scotland', who are
intent on saving as much of the old Scottish way of life and heritage as possible.

The Blackhouse at 42, Arnol is situated in the township of Arnol, just off the A858 road on the west side of the Isle of Lewis. My first impression on driving into the village was of entering a place where time has practically stood still for generations. The new modern bungalows stand alongside the older corrugated iron roofed dwellings, which in their turn stand beside the still older Black Houses. Most of the old Blackhouses are now in ruins, or are used for storage or as barns by their owners, but the Blackhouse at No. 42, Arnol is the exception. This has been fully restored by 'Historic Scotland', and is held in trust by the Department of the Environment since the early 1960's. It's a fascinating look back at what life was like for people as little as one or two generations ago. In fact, 42 Arnol was in use as a dwelling right up to 1964, less than forty years ago!

I was interested to learn that the Blackhouses in this village are mostly only about a century old, as the original village was situated far nearer

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>