Vernacular Parallels: Brochs and Blackhouses

Geddes, George

doi:10.1179/174962910x12838716153727

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 9 publications

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“…Local historic documentation places abandonment of the village at around 1830 (Comann Eachdraidh Uig 2011). A number of recurrent research objectives have underpinned the study of blackhouse villages including discovering: whether it is possible to see the blackhouse village as a continuation of prehistoric settlement patterns or as a break from the past (Campbell 2009, Dodgshon 1993; how the use of certain building materials in particular ways suggests an environmental determinism in vernacular architecture (Geddes 2010); the form and extent of the remains of the villages (Fenton 1995, Kissling 1943, Walker and MacGregor 1996; how the settlements develop in terms of the in-field/out-field system of agricultural land use (Dodgshon 1973(Dodgshon , 1977Whittington 1975); and the threats to the extant remains of these particular types of settlement (Parker Pearson et al 2011). The research aim of the Uig Landscape Project survey and excavation at Bereiro was simply to collect dating evidence for the earliest use of the site and to examine the structural remains to understand the architectural form of the blackhouse building.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small-Scale Evaluation of a Post-Medieval Blackhouse at Bereiro, Lewis, Western Isles of Scotland

Nesbitt

Church

Gilmour

et al. 2013

Journal of the North Atlantic

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The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Abstract -This paper presents the results of the excavation of two dry-stone structures in the abandoned blackhouse village of Bereiro, near to the township of Crowlista, Isle of Lewis. The research was undertaken as part of a wider landscape project investigating human occupation on the Uig peninsula from prehistory to the post-medieval period (the Uig Landscape Project). The excavation aimed to collect dating evidence from the site to determine the date of construction and abandonment of one of the earliest structures in the village, in an attempt to establish the longevity of the blackhouse form in the vernacular architecture of medieval Atlantic Scotland. The results of the dating program are considered alongside historical documents, which record the social history of the village within the context of the long-standing research questions regarding blackhouse villages. These questions include the development of the agricultural field systems and continuity or change in the Hebridean landscape from later-prehistory to medieval times.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small-Scale Evaluation of a Post-Medieval Blackhouse at Bereiro, Lewis, Western Isles of Scotland

Nesbitt

Church

Gilmour

et al. 2013

Journal of the North Atlantic

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The Past Ubiquity and Environment of the Lost Earth Buildings of Scotland

Parkin

Adderley

2017

Hum Ecol

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This paper investigates the once ubiquitous vernacular earth-built structures of Scotland and how perceptions of such buildings were shaped and developed through periods of intense cultural and environmental change. We focus upon the past exploitation of traditional resources to construct vernacular architectures and on changes in the perception of the resultant buildings. Historic earth-built structures are today deeply hidden within the landscapes of Scotland, although they were once a common feature of both urban and rural settlements. Whilst the eighteenth and nineteenth century period of Improvement – during which many of these structures were destroyed, repurposed, or left to decay – has received extensive attention by historians, there exists no previous serious study of the human and environmental dimensions. Through analysis of the material aspects of landscape resource use and analysis of the historical perceptions of such use, we emphasize the national significance of this undervalued aspect of Scotland’s built and cultural heritage, increasingly at risk of being lost completely, highlighting the prior ubiquity of mudwall structures.

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Vernacular Parallels: Brochs and Blackhouses

Cited by 2 publications

References 9 publications

Small-Scale Evaluation of a Post-Medieval Blackhouse at Bereiro, Lewis, Western Isles of Scotland

Small-Scale Evaluation of a Post-Medieval Blackhouse at Bereiro, Lewis, Western Isles of Scotland

The Past Ubiquity and Environment of the Lost Earth Buildings of Scotland

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