History
Geàrrannan Blackhouse Village History
Gearrannan Gaelic Song
- 1800s
The Original Village
The restored Geàrrannan blackhouses date from the 1800s, a time of land re-lotting and from the period after the Crofting Act, when tenants were able to build their houses in some confidence that they would not be evicted.
The houses were now in line at the ends of crofts, not clustered in a group as they had been in the pre-lotting hamlet of Sìthean (the original Gearrannan settlement, occupied by a family of MacLeods in the late 17th century and previously occupied in pre-history).
- 1800s
The Blackhouses
You will be visiting or staying in a village which is alive with history. The blackhouses have seen the cycle of life through generations of crofting families. They were occupied until the early 1970s when the last few elderly residents moved to new accommodation that didn’t need the annual maintenance of thatch and stonework.
The old houses and their environs were declared a conservation area shortly after the last residents left as there was a unique opportunity here to preserve a style of house building which had survived for centuries but which had almost disappeared in the last half of the 20th century – the blackhouse.
The double drystone walls, the low profile and the insulating thatch made the houses suitable for the Hebridean weather, and they were indeed eco-friendly houses in that all the building materials were natural and found locally.
- Early 1900s
Peaks and Troughs
Until the First World War, the township continued to survive, sometimes to thrive, on the produce of the land and the sea. A little money for the rent and for purchasing some basic essentials could be earned at the local ling fishing, or at the herring fishing in Stornoway or on the East Coast. The population increased, with as many as 84 of the pupils of Carloway School in 1904 from Gearrannan.
No villages escaped the effects of the war – not just a loss of life (compounded by the loss of the Naval Yacht Iolaire), but also a decline in markets leading to economic depression. Crofting could support families to a degree, but young men needed employment or crofts of their own, and the answer was often emigration.
- 1930s
Big Changes
In 1936, five new Hattersley looms came to Geàrrannan and the expanding Harris Tweed industry began to put a little money into crofters’ pockets. Housing improvements which began after the opening of a Board of Agriculture building materials store in Carloway in 1928 continued, and the blackhouses took on the form we see from the outside today – gable ends and chimneys a sign that the fire was no longer in the middle of the floor.
War again intervened in 1939, and it had a detrimental effect on the village, although losses from Geàrrannan were fewer than in the Great War. Its end heralded a period when young men and women, particularly ones who were in the forces during the war, sought employment on the mainland or on the high seas.
- 1950-60s
Modern Life
Subtle improvements were being fed into the village way of life. Weaving of Harris Tweed was becoming increasingly important and traditional croftwork was beginning to decline. There was less need now for the produce of the croft. More and more land was given over to grazing. Electricity came to the village in 1952. A piped water supply came in the early 1960s. Grocery vans made daily visits, and in 1965, the first daily milk-run began. It was no longer necessary to keep a milking cow or to work the land for her winter fodder.
Life in many ways was easier, but the village had been drained of much of its young blood through the pull of employment and education. By the 1960s, the blackhouses were occupied by a few ageing residents only – mostly elderly spinsters.
- 1970s
The Last Residents Leave
As the years passed, physical infirmity began to make its presence felt. The hard work needed to maintain blackhouses became more difficult, and the houses began to deteriorate. It became increasingly obvious that the residents had to be re-housed. In 1974, all the remaining residents of the village – four ladies and one gentleman – moved to new council houses nearby. In these, there was no thatching to be done, no water to be carried in – but they were allowed the luxury of an open peat fire.
It was realised around this time that there were no other examples left in the islands of a village of blackhouses.
- Late 1900s
Restoration
In November 1976, the blackhouse village was formally designated as an outstanding conservation area. The Garenin Trust (Urras nan Geàrrannan) was set up by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar in 1989, in order to preserve and develop the blackhouse village. The Trust consists of representatives from local organisations, as well as Council and Local Enterprise Company representatives and members of the public who are interested in its aims.
The first blackhouse restored, Taigh Dhonnchaidh, was completed in 1991 and was opened by Magnus Magnusson in his role as Chairman of Scottish Natural Heritage. To restore the remaining six properties fully and improve public access and car-parking, major funding was required, and applications were submitted to various bodies in April 1997. All applications were successful.
- 1999
Bringing the Past to Life
Work commenced in April 1999 on the final phase of restoration – three self-catering houses, a laundry and store, a cafeteria and village interpretation building, and a “working blackhouse” set in the 1950s and situated on a croft which is to be worked in traditional manner.
We now have an attractive and valuable asset which we hope recreates not just the physical surroundings but the spirit of community, friendship and welcome for which the village was renowned – an ideal place for groups, families or individuals to enjoy the aura of past times while staying either in bunk-house accommodation or four-star luxury. One house sleeps 16 and the other houses are family sized. They are situated in an area of great beauty and of environmental, historic and archaeological interest.
