A little bit of history
A recent visit to Scotland, primarily for walking, led to some other discoveries. One of our bases was at Killin (at the top of loch Tay). We had been here before and visited a reproduction of a 'Crannog', an ancient round house built on log stilts out in the loch. This time, while walking the foothills of Ben Lawers, we discovered the Kiltyrie hidden history trail which told of how the increasing local population in the late 17C was forced to move away from the loch side and higher up the hill to try and cultivate( unsuccessfully) the poorer land. We could still see field and dyke shapes, the raised banks of a track and a 'sheiling'. We looked at the ruins of a lime kiln and a 200 year old long house. Now only sheep graze here, and the village has gone.
Later we discovered a Scottish National Trust managed long house (Moirlanich) just a few minutes walk from our campsite. The long, narrow, single storey, cruck frame cottage is almost complete, although a tin roof has replaced the original bracken/oat straw/ turf thatch -it puts less strain on the ancient timbers underneath. It had been lived in until 1968.
We began at one end in the 'Best room', only guests, such as the minister, came in here, although there were two box beds tucked into one wall. Moving to the next room we found the kitchen, the hub of the home with its large fireplace and 'hingin' lum chimney, Scottish dresser for plates and table for meals, no easy chairs. The dresser and another boxbed formed the wall closing off the food storage area and dairy, and finally at the other end we came to the 'byre', home of 3 cows and chickens when they weren't in the field outside.
We were told, by the informative volunteer guide, the fire was never allowed to go out as it was said 'if the fire dies, the house dies'. It was also pointed out that the best room walls were papered, so many layers in fact they had brought the walls down in places. The layers have been separated and are now safely preserved in a glass frame.
The strange thing is the same design house can be seen in many Scottish villages still. Look out for the long low buildings with small windows and thick walls. Shows how well they were built even if they have been modernised!
cruck or crook frame is a curved timber, one of a pair, which supports the roof of a building. This type of timber framing consists of long, generally naturally curved, timber members that lean inwards and form the ridge of the roof.
Hingin Lum a canopy chimney cantilevered from the wall, usually of timber or whattle and clay. Known in most other areas as a smoke hood. They are commonly found in buildings where the central hearth moves to the gable end, because they are wide, there is no quick updraft to fan any sparks.
