The heather shieling at the
Highland Folk Museum, Scotland.
Properly done a heather
thatch will last 20-30 years...
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This is a shieling, a hut once common in wild and lonely
places in the hills and mountains of Scotland. This shieling is
at the
Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, Scotland. Farmers and
their families lived in shielings during the summer while
their livestock grazed on the common land.
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Shielings fell out of use by the end of the 17th
century, although in remote areas they were still used into the
18th. This shieling has stone and turf walls with two roundwoods
supporting the ridge which is
heather thatched. The shieling is
mentioned in folk music in the song Mairi's Wedding: |
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Step we gaily on we go
Heel for heel and toe for toe
Arm and arm and on we go
All for Mairi's wedding
Over hill-ways up and down
Myrtle green and bracken brown
Past the shieling through the town
All for sake of Mairi.
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