The Glencoe Turf House
Visitors to Glencoe National Nature Reserve can experience the Turf House at the Glencoe Visitor Centre, where its heather roof and sod walls meld into the mountain backdrop.
This turf, wattle, daub, and thatch structure was built over a year in 2021 and uses traditional materials, tools and techniques. It was constructed, after much local and period research by the National Trust for Scotland, working with a team of skilled craftspeople. The footprint of the building has been taken from survey work at the former township of Achtriachtan in Glencoe east of the visitor centre. It is based on one of the late 17th-century dwellings excavated by the trust’s archaeologists and volunteers.
As well as giving an more immersive and experiential understanding of building and living in that period, visitors can experience some of – what we believe – the sounds, speech and songs of life would have been in the glen 300 years ago.
It is an evocative and quite moving visit. The Gaelic language can be heard, as well as the sounds of the livestock and the wildlife that have been abundant in Glen Coe.
Iain Stewart – June 6 2023
