Red River Archaeology
  • Home
  • Services
    • Archaeological Fieldwork Services
    • Specialist and post-excavation services
    • Heritage Services
  • Projects
    • Roads and Rail
    • Residential sector
    • Energy and Water
    • Heritage Management
    • Housing and Commercial
    • Public Sector
  • About us
    • Red River Team
    • Vacancies
    • Health and Safety
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Home
  • Services
    • Archaeological Fieldwork Services
    • Specialist and post-excavation services
    • Heritage Services
  • Projects
    • Roads and Rail
    • Residential sector
    • Energy and Water
    • Heritage Management
    • Housing and Commercial
    • Public Sector
  • About us
    • Red River Team
    • Vacancies
    • Health and Safety
  • Contact
  • Blog

RED RIVER ARCHAEOLOGY BLOG

A Room with a View - Shielings and Transhumance in the Scottish Highlands

4/10/2021

2 Comments

 
​In June, we had the opportunity to conduct an archaeological walkover survey in the Scottish Highlands. The site was remote, and our role was to ensure that sites of archaeological potential would not be damaged during a major construction project.
Picture
Shieling platforms and ruins dotted across the glen.
Before we conducted the walkover, we first compiled a report from previous archaeological and cartographic sources, where we identified a group of huts. Four rectangular structures are depicted on the First Edition of the Ordnance Survey map, and during our walkover, we confirmed and recorded these structures as shielings. Because shielings are considered a Heritage Asset, we established an exclusion zone around the structures in order to protect them from potential damages.
​You may wonder, ‘What is a shieling, and why are they Heritage Assets within our historic landscape?’
Before the advent of modern agricultural practices, transhumance – the seasonal migration of livestock between mountain pastures in the warmer seasons and lower grounds during the rest of the year – was a common practice throughout Scotland and Northern England. With the livestock went their farmers and attendants, who lived during these summer months in upland huts called shielings. 
Found as single settlement or in groups, shielings are mostly built of dry-stone construction, though some have been found to have turf foundations. They are generally rectangular in plan with one or two rooms, and the roofs were most likely gabled and covered with turf, rushes, or heather.
Picture
A partially intact shieling sits atop a natural sand and gravel mound, above a less well preserved structure in the middle distance.
​The term derives from the Northern dialect of Middle English schele or schale and the Old Norse skjol, which means ‘shelter,’ and skali, meaning ‘hut.’ Shielings appear to have been part of the archaeological landscape since as early as the 5th century in sites such as Dartmoor and Cornwall, and transhumance has been established in the early medieval period throughout Britain through place-names and historical references. Shielings were particularly popular in the high medieval period, and the practice of driving cattle into upland pastures seems to have slowed down by the mid-17th-century. Shieling life continued in areas of the Scottish Isles at least into the 19th-century – the last recorded use of shieling on the Isle of Lewis occurred in 1946!
Picture
The remains of three shielings in close proximity to each other.
The results of our walkover survey identified nine shielings clustered amongst the tributaries feeding a stream at the bottom of a glen. Although we could not identify a concrete date of construction and use, they appear to be post-medieval - likely utilized between the 16th-18th centuries. Typical of shielings of this period, they appear to have been built of drystone construction, but both circular/oval and rectangular plan designs were implemented on site. Two of the shielings survived only as small circular enclosures defined by low earthen banks with occasional stones protruding. Partially upstanding walls were identified at two further shielings, while we were able to identify a noticeable corner in the best preserved shieling. The shieling huts were constructed on natural sand and gravel hummocks, which would have provided good drainage and elevated the structures out of the surrounding marsh. 
Picture
A sub-circular structure, with partial collapse of the wall.
​The nine shielings we recorded are more than just a temporary camp, they represent a way of life that is remembered in oral traditions and folksongs. The move from the lowlands up into the shielings heralded longer days and warmer weather, and the event was often a communal ‘exodus’ organized by families, villages, or entire towns. Despite this, life at the shieling could be lonely, as one folksong remarks: “How sad am I, on the shieling of the milch cows!” Generally though, summers at the shielings seem to be characterized as a time of freedom and feelings of peace and contentment. 
Picture
Survey in progress on a shieling platform.
Picture
Artistic interpretation of how the shieling may have looked in its prime.
​Due to the nature of commercial archaeology, we often dig only where sites are being developed for construction. This project gave us a unique opportunity to work outside traditional development zones, and we were excited to have the opportunity to learn more about this pastoral way of life.  
2 Comments
Betty Moloney
5/10/2021 16:11:07

Reminds me of an old Scottish song My Ain Folk sung by Sidney McKeowan

Reply
David Campbell link
6/10/2021 00:29:38

Great short read. I shall look out for these on Ardnamurchan when out walking.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    August 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019

    Categories

    All
    Archaeology
    Archaeology Wales
    Battlefield Archaeology
    British Archaeology
    Business
    Cadw
    Cardiff
    Chartered Institute For Archaeologists
    CIfA
    Compliance
    Conflict Archaeology
    Construction
    Covid-19
    Disability Confident
    Electricity Infrastructure
    Geomatics
    Housing
    IARSS2019
    National Grid
    Planning
    Puzzles
    Quality
    Real Living Wage
    Research
    Risk Management
    Roads
    Roman Archaeology
    Roman Britain
    Roman Coins
    Roman Wales
    Scheduled Monument
    Scheduled Monument Consent
    Scotland
    Staff Development
    Standards
    Survey
    Sustainability
    Transhumance
    Wales
    Well
    Well Being
    Wiltshire
    Worcestershire
    Workplace Gender Equality

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

RED RIVER ARCHAEOLOGY
T: +44 (0)29 21 050 570​

Copyright© 2022 Red River Archaeology Ltd. All rights reserved.