Thatched house, Barra

Thatched house, Barra

ID: QZP99_94052_07_06 DESCRIPTION: This image is from the collection of historian and folklorist Isabel F Grant and shows a dilapidated thatched cottage in Barra. The house in this image displays features characteristic of what I F Grant calls the 'Long Island' or Outer Hebrides style, and the Eastern and Central Highlands style. These styles often merged together in Highland houses. Like the 'Long Island' type, this cottage has walls with rounded corners that were streamlined against the wind. Like the Eastern and Central Highlands type, the thatched roof slightly projects over the walls of the house. The classic 'Long Island' type house had a double wall, with a core of sand or earth in between the two walls, and the roof structure resting on the inner wall. The thatching on the house is fairly typical of the 'Long Island' style. In the Outer Hebrides, straw or bent grass were the principal materials used for thatching. The thatching material was secured using ropes weighted by stones. Two sticks can be seen projecting out of the thatch at either end of the roof. Such a stick was known in Gaelic as a 'Maide Feannaig', or 'raven's stick'. The ropes that secured the thatch around the rounded ends of the house were first twisted round the stick and then weighted with stones. This image comes from a collection gifted to Edinburgh Central Library by Dr Isabel F. Grant. The collection includes photographs taken by a number of different photographers PLACENAME: Barra DISTRICT: Barra OLD COUNTY/PARISH: INVERNESS: Barra CREATOR (AV): I F Grant SOURCE: Edinburgh and Scottish Collection, Edinburgh Central Library COLLECTION: I F Grant Photographic Archive Asset ID: 38645 KEYWORDS: