Glencoe's creel house offers glimpse of past

Such homes were common in west Highland rural communities until the 19th century, but the trust said they have since disappeared.

Archaeological excavations indicate creel houses were once dotted throughout the glen in small clusters.

The trust now hopes to recreate one particular building that would have been occupied during the 17th-Century, at the time of the infamous Massacre 
of 1692.

Creel houses combined a sturdy “cruck” frame of curved timber with basket-like wattle internal walls woven from freshly-cut wood. 

They were lined on the outside with thick, insulating walls built from blocks of turf.
The roof would have been lined with thinner turf below thatch, usually made of heather.

Materials for the house, which will be built outside the Glencoe visitor centre, are being sourced from within the glen and other land in the trust’s care.

The house, a National Trust for Scotland (NTS) project in Glencoe, will offer visitors a glimpse of how people lived in the glen around the time of the 1692 massacre.

A team of craftsmen and women has in the past week broken ground and raised the building’s six-metre (20ft) timber cruck frame, hauling it up without power tools using an old-fashioned gin pole and hand-winch.

The frame’s Scots pine and birch timbers have been sourced from NTS woodlands at Glencoe and the Mar Lodge estate, carefully chosen from trees with a natural curve to give the cruck its shape.

The building’s design has been informed by a long-lost dwelling discovered by archaeologists during excavations beneath the Aonach Eagach ridge in the heart of the glen.

NTS said: “No local buildings survive from that era and creel houses have been completely lost from Scotland’s architectural landscape, but they would have dominated in west Highlands rural communities until the 19th-Century.”

Traditional methods are being used as much as possible to create the house, which is sited next to the NTS Glencoe visitor centre.

The glen was the site of the infamous massacre on February 13, 1692, when 38 members of the MacDonald clan were murdered by soldiers – acting on the government’s behalf – whom they had welcomed into their homes.

No local buildings survive from that era and creel houses have been completely lost from Scotland’s architectural landscape, but they would have dominated in West Highlands rural communities until the 19th-Century.

People will be able to see the next stage of construction when the visitor centre reopens at the end of April.

This will involve the creation of a basket-like “creel” internal framework, woven from freshly cut green wood, and thick, insulating external walls built from blocks of turf.

Two triangular “crucks” that span the width and height of the building were raised without power tools using an old-fashioned gin pole and hand-winch. 

This involved the team pulling hard on guy ropes and straps to lift the structure into place.

The crucks were then locked together with a horizontal ridge beam, secured with hand-cut joints and pegs. 

It took eight people two days, plus a lot of skill and physical strength, to complete the task.

The project’s lead carpenter, Chas Heath, prepared the rough logs in advance to remove the bark, hew them to size with a hand-axe and crafted each triangular cruck with traditional mortice and tenon joints and wooden pegs. 

More than 2,000 hand-cut pegs are required for the building’s sturdy timber frame.

The final stage will be the addition of a roof made from a layer of thinner turf below heather thatch.

 In the last few years, Trust archaeologists and volunteers have undertaken a series of archaeological digs investigating long-lost historical townships in the heart of Glencoe at Achtriochtan and Achnacon.

Support for this innovative project came from donors at home and across the world who enable the conservation charity to bring alive Scotland’s heritage.