Barra. Widow McNeil's house Balnabodach. Turf walls - gable giving way.
This house is of the blackhouse type built of rubble with double walls. This means there is an outer wall and an inner wall with a channel in between, which is filled with peat and earth. The doors and windows are small and the roofs are thatched, with ledges around the wall-heads so that the thatches can be put on, or repaired, easily. Protruding from each end of the roof ridge is a 'raven-stick' which serves as an anchor for the ropes that hold the thatch. Here you can see that the outer wall on the left hand side of the image has started to collapse, revealing the earth layer underneath. There is a stack of peat used for fuel by the front door along with various household items. Houses such as these were occupied until 1970s.
