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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BLACK-HOUSE, n. Traditional dwelling house in the Highlands and Islands, of double drystone walls with a core of earth, rounded corners and a thatched hipped roof resting on the inner side of the double walls and weighted down, with a central fireplace on an earthen floor; smoke escaped from the central fire through a hole in the roof. Orig. in comb. black hut (Inv. 1773 Forfeited Estate Papers MSS. (S.R.O.)), later and now reg. in hist. usage black house, ad. Gael. taigh-dubh, 'black house', as opposed to taigh-geal, 'white, shining house', i.e. a masoned house, black being partly in allusion to its dark, earthy and sooty appearance, poss. also connoting meanness or poverty. Sc. 1876 A. Mitchell Past in Present (1880) 50:
The typical old black house of The Lewis.Sc. 1931 W. C. Mackenzie Sc. Place-Names viii.:
“Black-houses” of the Outer Hebrides, i.e. the houses built of turf [as contrasted with] the “white” or stone houses, by which they are rapidly being replaced.Sc. 1999 Scotland on Sunday (17 Oct)  15:
So what of Patrick Sellar? He firmly believed that the crofters in their new cottages by the seaside were far better off than they had been in their wretched black houses in Strathnaver. Sc. 2000 Herald (30 Sep)  16:
The Clearances boiled in the sufficiently recent past, and their consequences remain so visible to this day - empty glens, the crumbled ruins of black houses, the plethora of Highland names in our great cities and overseas - as to resound reproachfully in present political debate.Sc. 2003 Press and Journal (12 Jun)  6:
Historic Scotland is returning to Lewis this month to hold a second public meeting to discuss local thatching traditions and techniques. The conservation body cares for the Black House complex at Arnol and wants to review techniques in advance of rethatching the existing roof at the property.Sc. 2004 Linlithgow Today (http://www.linlithgowtoday.co.uk) 23 Jul :
Said Dan: "We had the privilege of staying for a week in a recreated Black House when we were up north. There were other re-enactment societies around, including the opposition, and it was like being whisked back in time getting up in the morning and strolling through forest and spotting Redcoats?Sc. 2004 Daily Record (10 Sep)  36:
Bigger than the wooden original, it is based on the Black Houses (old croft houses) of the Western Isles.Highl. 1953 Cl Sinclair Thatched Houses 30:
Such are the Hebridean "black" houses, . . . long, low structures, whose sloping walls rounded haunches and set-back roof would almost anticipate the modern idea of"streamlining."Inv. 1884 Crofters' Comm. Evidence 1. 458:
Is your house a slated one? - No, it is the old block [sic] house I have.Arg. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XI. 135:
Three small villages, of tolerable black farm-houses.Sth. 1820 J. Loch Acct. Improvements App. 17:
It was covered with black huts and cultivated in detached patches.