Vernacular Parallels

Brochs and Blackhouses

Bibliographic Data

ID11903429
AuthorsGeorge Geddes (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, corresponding author), George F Geddes
Year2010
Volume41
Issue1
Pages15-27
Publication date2010-11-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueVernacular Architecture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-5477 • E-ISSN: 1749-6292
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1179/174962910x12838716153727
OpenAlexW2012712942
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited11

The buildings of the Western Isles of Scotland have been subject to archaeological study for the last 150 years, with a singular focus on buildings of the middle and later Iron Ages, but with occasional discussions about folk traditions and later post-medieval building techniques. Many writers have tended to adopt a negative view of the buildings of the post-medieval period, underestimating their complexity, their interest to the prehistorian and their utility as an indirect but important architectural analogy. This paper presents a model where aspects of use, materials and design in brochs are explored from a perspective informed by the study of blackhouses built in the same region. Without proposing a simplistic link between the two, evidence suggests that the respective builders may have responded to the challenging environment with similar solutions and, furthermore, that we can look at the wealth of information for post-medieval building techniques to help illuminate the buildings of prehistory

Aesthetics · Analogy · Archaeology · Architectural engineering · Art · Epistemology · Focus (optics · Literature · Middle Ages · Parallels · Period (music · Perspective (graphical · Prehistory · Vernacular · Vernacular architecture · Visual arts · Engineering · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · Historical Architecture and Urbanism · History · Philosophy · Scottish History and National Identity