Ashieling[a] (Scottish Gaelic:Àirigh)[3] is ahut or collection of huts on a seasonal pasture high in the hills, once common in wild or sparsely populated places inScotland. Usually rectangular with a doorway on the south side and few or no windows, they were often constructed of dry stone or turf. More loosely, the term may denote a seasonal mountain pasture for the grazing of cattle in summer. Seasonal pasturage impliestranshumance between the shieling and a valley settlement in winter. Many Scottish songs have been written about life in shielings, often concerning courtship and love. The ruins of shielings are abundant landscape features across Scotland, particularly the Highlands.
A "shieling" is a summer dwelling on a seasonal pasture high in the hills.[4] The first recorded use of the term is from 1568.[5] The word "shieling" comes from "shiel", from the formsschele orshale in the Northern dialect ofMiddle English, likely related toOld Frisianskul meaning "hiding place" and toOld NorseSkjol meaning "shelter" andSkali meaning "hut".[6]
A shieling, whether an isolated dwelling or in a group, is a hut or small dwelling, usually in an upland area.[7] Shielings were often constructed of locally availabledry stone, orturf.[7] They are mostly rectangular buildings between 5.7–14 metres (19–46 ft) long and 3–8.3 metres (9.8–27.2 ft) wide, although they may have rounded corners or be roughly oval. The rectangular buildings usually had gabled roofs covered in local materials such as turf,heather, orrushes, supported on timbers. The doorway was usually in the middle of one of the long sides of the building, often on the south side; it was often just a gap in the wall, although some shielings haddoor jambs andlintels made of larger blocks of stone. The smaller shielings consisted of a single room; most were divided into two or three rooms. There were few or no windows.[7] Some sources consider shielings to differ from farmsteads in lacking an enclosure,[8] although they may be surrounded by a bank and ditch, or by a dry stone wall.[7]
The Welsh traveller and naturalistThomas Pennant wrote the first description of Scottish shielings:[7]
I landed on a bank covered with sheelins, the temporary habitations of some peasants who tend the herds of milch cows. These formed a grotesque group; some were oblong, some conic, and so low that the entrance is forbidden without creeping through the opening, which has no other door than a faggot ofbirch twigs placed there occasionally; they are constructed of branches of trees covered withsods; the furniture a bed of heather; placed on a bank of sod, two blankets and a rug; some dairy vessels; and above, certain pendent shelves made ofbasket‑work, to hold the cheese, the product of the summer. In one of the little conic huts I spied a little infant asleep.
— Thomas Pennant,Voyage to the Hebrides, 1776[7]
The shieling system was widespread across Europe, including upland Britain and Iceland. It survives into the 21st century in Norway, Northern Sweden and the higher areas of central Europe.[9] Farmers and their families lived in shielings during the summer to enable their livestock to grazecommon land. Shielings were therefore associated with thetranshumance system of agriculture. They were often beside streams, which were used as pathways into the hills, or at the far end of the upland grazing land from the migrants' winter dwellings. Themountain huts generally fell out of use by the end of the 17th century, although in remote areas, such as theIsle of Lewis in theHebrides, this system continued into the 18th century or even later.[7][10] Derek Cooper, in his 1983 book on Skye, writes that the buildings on the moors were repaired each summer when the people arrived with their cattle; they made butter and cheese, andgruthim, salted buttered curds.
Ruins of shielings are abundant in high ormarginal land in Scotland and Northern England,[9][11][12] as are place-names containing "shield" or theirGaelic equivalents, such asPollokshields in Glasgow,[13]Arinagour on the island ofColl,[14]Galashiels in theScottish Borders,[15][16] and "Shiels Brae" nearBewcastle.[7] Turf-built shielings have typically gradually eroded and disappeared, but traces of stone-built structures persist in the landscape.[7] Some shielings aremedieval in origin and were occasionally occupied permanently after the abandonment of the transhumance system. The construction of associated structures such as stack-stands[b] and enclosures indicate that in these cases they became farmsteads, some of which evolved into contemporary farms.[7]
Many Scottish songs have been written about life in shielings, often concerning courtship and love.[18] Several of these are in Alexander Macdonald's 1914Story and Song from Loch Ness-side, including "Cha teid mi Choir Odhar", "Chunacas gruagach ‘s an aonach", and "A fhlesgaich is cummaire", all fromPerthshire, and "Luinneag Airidh" (a shieling lovesong).[18][19] The song "Chunacas gruagach ‘s an aonach" includes the lines
"Many times often you and I,
Have been at the shieling[c] on Brae Rannoch.
On the hillock of the waterfall,
Where we were resting.
In the bothy of the dalliance,
With a brushwood screen for door.
My mouth placed on your fragrant mouth,
And my hand would be round you, my love."[18]
The song is similar to the famous[18] "Bothan Àirigh am Bràigh Raithneach" (The Shieling bothy on Brae Rannoch).[18][21] Shielings are mentioned in the folk song "Mairi's Wedding",[22] in the weaver poetRobert Tannahill's song "Gilly Callum",[23] and in the musicologistWilliam Sharp's "Shieling Song" of 1896,[24] and in the title ofMarjory Kennedy-Fraser's tune "Island Sheiling Song".[25][26]Edward Thomas wrote a poem called "The Shieling".[27] The Scottish poetRobert Burns mentions a "shiel" in his song "Bessy and her Spinnin' Wheel"[28] and his poem "The Country Lass".[29]
Envelope marked 'Duets': letter from Marie Thomson, Edinburgh, 15 September 1923, 'The Road to the Isles', manuscript, arranged for twopart chorus by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, 'Milking Croon' and 'Island Sheiling Song' and 'Pulling the Sea-Dulse', manuscripts, arranged for two voices by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser.
| Eras | |
|---|---|
| Forms | |
