old croft photos

[daschoo]

quick bit of background.
croft = A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer. (from wikipedia)
my old man was born on the island of south uist (uibhist a deas in the native tongue) in the outer hebrides, a group of islands off the west coast of scotland. last year there was a death in the family up there that meant the house he was born in was sold. anyway a couple of weeks ago my mum emailed me some pictures they found when they were going through the stuff of the old croft house where his parents lived before "the new house" was built.
i know a lot of folk on here like the old photos so thought i'd post these up, not sure how old these photos are but my grandpa died when i was 6 and i never saw a roof on the old house (i'm 29)
firstly the traditional croft house
http://i562.***BLOCKED***/albums/ss69/daschoo/000900010001.jpg
my grandpa outside his croft house
http://i562.***BLOCKED***/albums/ss69/daschoo/00090002.jpg
another shot of the house with the loch to the right of the shot
http://i562.***BLOCKED***/albums/ss69/daschoo/000900011.jpg
grandpa looking down the loch with the new house in the background
http://i562.***BLOCKED***/albums/ss69/daschoo/0009.jpg
my gran and grandpa in the new house
http://i562.***BLOCKED***/albums/ss69/daschoo/9_1.jpg

 

[Faerluna]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing those.

 

[5Stars]

Very, very interesting pics, dashoo!

 

[notherbob]

A country house isn't complete without a geranium on the windowsill, thanks for posting that.

 

[arglebargle]

Missed this!

Thanks for the photos, very cool.

I did a bike tour of the British Isles some years ago, grouped by visiting hedge mazes, castles and forts, and standing stones. Was real interested in the Hebrides, and made it through Arran, Kintrye, Jura, Islay, Colonsay, Mull and Skye, but ran out of moolah before I could get to the Outer Hebrides. Too bad!

 

[jubal]

He must have raised sheep or cattle because I don't see a place to plant much more than a garden for the family. Unless he planed to build the house in the quarry so he wouldn't have to tote the rock so far.
I see the telly so they didn't have oil lamps or candles. Makes a person glad that times have changed for the better in some ways.
Thanks for sharing. Put up some more if you can get them from the folks.

 

[daschoo]

Missed this!

Thanks for the photos, very cool.

I did a bike tour of the British Isles some years ago, grouped by visiting hedge mazes, castles and forts, and standing stones. Was real interested in the Hebrides, and made it through Arran, Kintrye, Jura, Islay, Colonsay, Mull and Skye, but ran out of moolah before I could get to the Outer Hebrides. Too bad!

i've never really done the inner hebrides yet. had a day trip to arran for valentines day a few years ago to drink champagne on the beach because my better half enjoys the ocean, easy day trip from glasgow where we stayed at the time but february isn't ideal for the beach in scotland! always fancied visiting the distilleries on jura and particularly islay. mulls the one island closer to the mainland i've spent some time on, had a few short holidays there. really nice scenery but not as rugged as the western isles. skye i've driven through many times on my way to uist (ferry from uig on skye to lochmaddy - loch nam maddah - then drive down through benbecula - beinn nam fadhla - to south uist) and i think this years summer holidays may well be spent their. shame you never got to the outer hebrides but glad you enjoyed your visit and it certainly sounds like you got to see a lot.

He must have raised sheep or cattle because I don't see a place to plant much more than a garden for the family. Unless he planed to build the house in the quarry so he wouldn't have to tote the rock so far.
I see the telly so they didn't have oil lamps or candles. Makes a person glad that times have changed for the better in some ways.
Thanks for sharing. Put up some more if you can get them from the folks.

yeah its mostly sheep farming up there for the last 150 years or so, before the clearances (when massive proportions of the population of the highlands and islands were forcibly evicted to make way for sheep farming by the landowners) the main livelihood was kelp production and potato farming. regarding the electricity that was in the new house, the thatched cottage never had electricity or running water. the new house was indeed built beside the quarry alongside another farmhouse which sadly is now a ruin (although when i was up last year i believe someone had bought it with a view to renovating)
as for things havig changed for the better yeah i definitely think it would be a massive culture shock for us to go back to even when our parents were young and even today i don't think i could live up there as much as i love to visit

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Cool stuff...Thanks for sharing.