Black house

For the novel by the same name, see Black House.

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The black house is a traditional type of house which used to be common in Highland Scotland, the Hebrides and Ireland. It was generally built with double wall dry-stone walls packed with earth and wooden rafters covered with a turf roof, although reed thatch was occasionally used as the roofing material. The floor was generally flagstones or packed earth and there was a central hearth for the fire. There was no chimney for the smoke to escape though. Instead the smoke made its way through the roof.

Related Topics:
Scotland - Hebrides - Ireland - Dry-stone wall - Thatch

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The black house was used to accommodate livestock as well as people. People lived at one end and the animals lived at the other with a partition between them.

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