The Arnol Black House (The Blackhouse at 42 Arnol)

Member Name: micksheff

Product:	The Blackhouse at 42 Arnol
Date:	11/10/09 (113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fascinating insight into how people lived

Disadvantages: Remote location, admission charges

Arnol is a small village on the remote northern coast of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Today the village comprises of a number small crofts scattered across a large area but if you look closer you will see the remains of many Black Houses interspersed between the more modern houses. Black Houses are as far as I know unique to the North West Highlands of Scotland and represent a way of life for the people that have lived here, virtually in isolation from the mainland for thousands of years. The last of the Arnol Black Houses was abandoned in 1974 but thankfully the Black House at No. 42 within the village has been preserved and turned into a museum for future generations to see how these people lived.

It is a common assumption that the Black Houses derived their name because they had no chimney and very tiny windows so the interior of these buildings were very dark and the walls were black from the smoke of the peat fires that burned day and night. In fact they most likely received the name during the latter half of the 19th century when the locals constructed more modern stone crofts that they whitewashed. These became referred to as the White Houses whilst the old dwellings that were left to ruin were referred to as the old Black Houses.

The Arnol Black House Museum is sign posted from the main coastal road and access is via a narrow single-track road through the village. Follow this road right to its end, almost to where it meets the sea and here you will find a small car parking area and immediately next to this you will see the rather bizarre sight of the Black House. This was my first encounter with a Black House although I would later find several other examples during my tour of the island and even discover an entire village of them.

From the outside the Black House is very long and narrow but its most distinguishing feature is a thatched roof constructed of twigs and heather and overlaid with straw. The building itself is constructed from local stones, there is no cement between these stones and I can only liken this method to the dry stone walls that one often finds in the countryside. The straw roof is tied down with ropes that are each attached to a large rock to weight them down.

Adjacent to the Black House there is a small visitor centre where an admission fee is payable to enter the Black House at No. 42. The cost is £2.50 per adult and £1.25 per child. Inside the visitor centre there is a small gift shop and a display of exhibits relating to the Arnol Black Houses including quite a few photographs.

A narrow footpath leads from the visitor centre to the entrance of the house but this wouldn't be suitable for disabled visitors since the entrance door is very small and narrow. Furthermore there is a step down into the house and as it's very dark inside care should be taken and children will need to be supervised. Looking at the entrance from the outside the building is very low but once inside you will realise that a part of it is actually sunk into the ground. This low height together with its orientation at a 90 degree angle to the shore provided shelter from the onshore winds. This method of construction was very like the old croft houses I had seen at the Skye Island Museum of Life but there the buildings were much smaller and more cottage like. The Arnol Black House is huge and once inside you discover that this is because it was not only a home to the family that lived here but also a home for their cattle, pigs and even a horse.

A couple of torches at the entrance were provided to assist the internal tour and without this it would have been very dark. The whole building had only two tiny narrow windows on either side so virtually no natural daylight penetrated the rooms yet despite this it still felt remarkably warm and cosy. To the right of the doorway was a room that had a peat fire burning in the middle of it and beyond this there were two bedrooms. The first room turned out to be the kitchen/dining area but was very sparse with just a crude table and no chairs, presumably the family that lived here sat on the hard floor around the fire. The bedrooms were however a little more elaborate with a chest of drawers and box beds built into the walls with curtains draped across them. Again these were not unlike the box beds that I had seen on the Isle of Skye and the curtains would have been dyed using natural dyes from plants, lichens or seaweed. The box beds being built into the wall not only saved space but also provided extra warmth. The bedroom and kitchen areas are both furnished as they would have looked during the 1920's and it is notable that there is neither running water nor electricity. In fact even when the last of these Black Houses were abandoned in the 1970's they still didn't have such luxuries.

To the left of the entrance is a small room where a horse would have been kept and at the side of this was a pile of straw. Through a narrow gap in the wall there was a further room for animals that would have held pigs and sheep and even the odd cow. The animals didn't live here permanently but instead were only brought inside when the weather was bad.

Beyond the Black House there are actually two further buildings, neither of which are visible from the road. These buildings are without a thatched roof but the outer walls are still intact and with no roof they are fully illuminated by daylight so these buildings give a better insight into how the buildings were constructed. Surrounding these building are the original gardens, which would have been used to grow crops, mainly potatoes.

I found the Arnol Black House fascinating. It has been preserved in a way to represent how it would have actually looked rather than furnished with other extras like so many of these places often are. Its appeal is in its simplicity and the sparseness and lack of mod cons only serve to emphasise the harsh life that these people endured. This particular Black House only dates from the late 19th century and is therefore one of the later examples of such a dwelling, it was abandoned in 1966. It does however represent a way of life that dates back many centuries and probably to the time of the Vikings.

The Arnol Black House Museum is open daily throughout the year (except Sunday) from 9.30am until 6.30pm between April and September and from 9.30am until 4.30pm between October and March. Historic Scotland looks after the property and their members can enter free.

42 Arnol
Isle of Lewis
Arnol
Isle of Lewis
HS2 9DB

Telephone -(01851) 710395

Summary: A traditional dwelling on the Isle of Lewis