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 Blackhouse Interior  Blackhouse Exterior 
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Peat Spade
Zoom in Griddle 
Bannock Spade
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Pre-clearances - Blackhouses | ||||||||||||||||
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This is
followed by the room kept for special occasions, including births and
deaths. It is extremely dark but you might just make out the large bed
and spinning wheel. |
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is no chimney and the walls and roof are covered with black ash from the
fire – this would be collected and used as fertilizer. The walls were made of thick stone and the roof from wood, and a thatch was secured with rope made from heather. When these houses were built people had to use whatever materials could be found locally and often wood from old boats was used. There was just one door, through which both people and animals go into the house. The cows and the hens live at one end of the dwelling and people at the other. There is a peat fire in the middle of our end of the house. That is where they would cook up a thin porridge, cabbage broth or potatoes and turnips in a large cauldron hung from the ceiling. Sometimes they would have mutton, and cheese from the cows' milk. Plates are made from wood, and spoons of either wood or animal horn..Beds are just boxes filled with heather or hay for comfort. There are no windows which helps keep the heat in and the cold out. A lot of time was spent round the peat fire in the centre of the room as it gave off warmth and light. Inside the croft house, the family would sit on low wooden chairs or stools called creepies. The smoke was not as thick near the ground. The fire burned day and night ensuring the family were kept warm. There is a hole in the roof to let the smoke from the fire out of the house. The smoke is useful for preserving food like fish. It gets very black inside the house, that's why they call these houses Blackhouses. Cooking Pots Cooking pots were mostly made of cast iron. They would have been balanced over the fire and used to cook a family's daily meal. Some cooking pots hung from the ceiling on a pot chain just above the fire. Oats, potatoes and kale were what most crofters survived on. Those who lived near the sea would eat fish too. Oats would be boiled in a large cooking pot and made into gruel. The potatoes and cabbage would be mashed together to make clapshot. Bannocks were also made from oats. The oats were pressed together to make oat cakes and cooked on a griddle above the fire. Peat Spades Peat was very important
in highland life. It was the main source of fuel for heat and cooking.
The peat had to be cut from the ground and dried before it could be
used. A peat spade or tusker would be used to cut the peat into strips.
Usually the men would cut the peats in the spring time before going
off to their summer jobs. Then the women and children would load the
peat into a basket or creel and carry it home on their backs. This was
heavy work as the croft was often several miles away. Once home, the
peat would have to be stacked up to keep it dry. The griddle was used for baking either scones or oatcakes. Some griddles had a flat iron plate. Others were formed of narrow bars of iron bent into pleasing designs. Bannock
Spades
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