The Western Isles - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 301

PEAT
One of the characteristic features of the landscape of the Highlands and Islands is peat
( mòine ) - and nowhere is its presence more keenly felt than on Lewis. Virtually the whole
interior of the island is made up of one, vast blanket bog, scarred with lines of peat banks old
and new, while the pungent smell of peat smoke hits you as you pass through the villages.
Peat is made up of dead vegetation that has failed to rot completely because the sheer
volume of rainfall has caused the soil acidity to reach a level that acts as a preservative. In other
words, organic matter - such as sphagnum moss, rushes, sedges and reeds - is dying at a
faster rate than it is decomposing. This means, of course, that peat is still (very slowly) forming
in certain parts of Scotland, at an inch or less every fifty years. In the (mostly treeless) islands,
peat provided an important source of fuel, and the cutting and stacking of peats in the spring
was part of the annual cycle of crofting life. Peat cutting remains embedded in the culture, and
is still practised on a large scale, particularly in the Hebrides. It's a social occasion as much as
anything else, which heralds the arrival of the warmer, drier days of late spring.
Great pride is taken in the artistry and neatness of the peat banks and stacks . In some
parts, the peat lies up to 30ft deep, but peat banks are usually only cut to a depth of around
6ft. Once the top layer of turf has been removed, the peat is cut into slabs between two and
four peats deep, using a traditional tairsgeir (pronounced “tushkar”). Since peat is ninety
percent water in its natural state, it has to be carefully “lifted” in order to dry out. Peats tend to
be piled up either vertically in “rooks”, or crisscrossed in “windows”; either way the peat will lose
three quarters of its water content, and shrink by about a quarter. Many folk wonder how on
earth the peat can dry out when it seems to rain the whole time, but the wind helps, and
eventually a skin is formed that stops any further water from entering the peats. After three or
four weeks, the peats are skilfully “grieved”, like the slates on a roof, into round-humped stacks
or onto carts that can be brought home. Traditionally, the peat would be carried from the peat
banks by women using “creels”, baskets that were strapped on the back. Correctly grieved
peats allow the rain to run off, and therefore stay dry for a year or more outside the croft.

6

ACCOMMODATION THE ROAD TO BARVAS

White House 11 Upper Shader (Siadar Uarach)
T 01851 820990, W whitehousebb.co.uk. Ignore the
tartan carpeting, the rooms themselves are very tastefully

furnished and well equipped. Ther e's fr ee wi-fi and their
hens provide the eggs for breakfast. £60

Ness (Nis)
The main road continues through a string of densely populated, fervently Presbyterian
villages that make up NESS (Nis), at the northern tip of Lewis. Ness has the highest
percentage of Gaelic speakers in the country (75 percent), but the locals are perhaps
best known for their annual culling of young gannets on Sula Sgeir (see box opposite).
These scattered settlements have none of the photogenic qualities of Skye's
whitewashed villages: the churches are plain and unadorned; the crofters' houses
relatively modern and smothered in grey pebble-dash rendering or harling; the stone
cottages and enclosures of their forebears often lie half-abandoned in the front garden:
a rusting assortment of discarded cars and vans store peat bags and the like. The road
terminates at the fishing village of PORT OF NESS (Port Nis), with a tiny harbour and
lovely golden beach. It's worth noting that there are few shops (other than mobile ones)
in these parts, so it's as well to stock up in Stornoway before you set out.

Comunn Eachdraidh Nis
Cross School, North Dell (Dail bho Thuath) • March-Oct Mon-Fri 10am-4pm; Nov-Feb Mon-Fri noon-4pm • £2 • T 01851 810377,
W cenonline.org
For an insight into the social history of the area, take a look inside Ness Heritage
Centre or Comunn Eachdraidh Nis in CROSS (Cros). The museum, housed in the
village school, contains a huge collection of photographs, but its prize possession is