The purpose of this blog is to publish some of our pictures of the Isle of Skye, Scotland. We lay no claim to these being great photographs - they are just pictures of what we see, taken with ordinary compact cameras. We hope you enjoy browsing.

Richard and Sue


(CLICK ANY PICTURE TO VIEW A FULL-SIZE GALLERY)


Wednesday 20 September 2017

Walls

Before modern methods of transport brought wooden posts and beams to Skye, the only building materials available were those that could be derived from the land - and pretty much the only long-lasting building material was stone.

Around us here in NW Skye, the local stone is volcanic basalt - a hard, black rock which can be dressed to create roughly cubic building blocks. However, basalt is seriously heavy - a one-foot cube weighs around half a hundredweight (25kg), which is as much as I would want to lift these days. There are many, many blocks of double that size (and more) embedded in walls all over Skye...and even in Roskhill Barn!

Roskhill Barn
During our first works at The Barn, the original stonework was substantially restored 

Today, the human endeavour involved in creating stone walls is mostly forgotten, and many of the ancient walls are tumbled and becoming re-absorbed by the surrounding moorland. I offer below just a tiny number of the photographs I have taken of stone walls in our local area of NW Skye. Can you even begin to imagine the skills required to create such structures...??

(Throughout this blog - click on any picture to view a full-screen gallery).

Large animal enclosures above Loch Bharcasaig.

Lichen-covered wall at Claigan

Long-abandoned township boundary wall, Cnoc na Pairce

Huge stones in the wall of the derelict sawmill at Dunvegan

Large animal pen - Eabost

Even larger animal pen - Glen Colbost

Today, it is easier to erect a new fence than to repair an old wall...

Fireplace and gable end wall of derelict cottage in Lorgill

Old wall - newer fence -Lyndale

Beautiful stonework - Orbost

More Orbost walls

Interior - St John's Chapel, Caroy

Boundary wall, Sumardale

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