Blackhouse Furniture: origins

Blackhouses were the common form of dwelling  in the highlands and islands until the beginning the the twentieth century. Blackhouses were single room longhouses that housed livestock at one end and humans at the other end. The houses were built of thick stone walls and heather or reed thatched roofs. They had only one door and often no windows. The heart of the house was the hearth – a peat fire placed in the centre of the room, which never went out. Given the small dimension of the living are there was not a great deal of space for furniture. What furniture there was had both functional and symbolic/cultural meaning.

The limited furniture typology included:

Stool, Creepie, Cute, Cutty: Small three or four-legged chair, some with backs (backstool, stick back chair or staked chair), placed around the hearth and mostly used by women (for tending the fire, cooking or eating) and children. The term creepie was derived from the Way that children would scoot or creep along hen floor whilst sitting on the low stools.

‘Social hierarchy… had a lot to do with where you were sitting – hence the word “chairman.” The lowest class sat on the floor. Then you get stools, backstools and forms for the working people – these got you off the floor and in a position to do some work by the fire. The highest class of people got chairs. There’s little doubt that the progression – from floor to armchair – was all about comfort for the human body and was something you earned (or perhaps inherited)’.

(Christopher Schwarz, https://blog.lostartpress.com/2015/01/25/naked-necessity/, accessed online 17 October 2016)

Sitting Bench, Settle: Long, wide wooden benches primarily for use by men and normally located against a wall near the fire. Sometimes the benches would be used for sleeping.

Box Beds: Beds enclosed with walls and a roof of timber often creating a partition between humans and livestock.

Chests: Pine or oak chests were sometimes referred to as ‘dowry chests’ or ‘bride’s boxes’, and were used to hold blankets and fine linen which a bride took with her to her new home. Wooden boxes with lids used for storing blankets or grain. Wooden chests were also used to store dry goods such as flour, corn and oatmeal for the winter months.

 

Making Blackhouse Furniture

Blackhouse furniture was made from locally available materials, including driftwood, bogwood or  timber, using simple joinery techniques (staked joints) and tools (augers, braces and hatchets). Furniture was often user-made or made locally by the makers of spinning wheels or other craftsmen.