The Creel House
No, not the name of a pub, nor a seaside shed for storing fishermen’s baskets. The Creel House in question is located in Glencoe, some 35 miles from the Port of Oban (the ‘seafood capital of Scotland’) and well over a mile from the nearest Inn.
But before we explain, let Terroir take you back to February 2021, when we posted a blog (entitled ‘Cynefin’) featuring Rob Thompson, a young Welsh vernacular architect and artist. At the time he was firmly located in his Welsh homeland, sketching and painting traditional Welsh cottages, houses and barns, all constructed from local material.
Derelict crog loft cottage, Anglesey © R J Thompson
In the summer of 2022, we tracked him down again, now living in Glencoe, and finishing off the construction of a Scottish Creel House, located at the National Trust for Scotland’s Glencoe Visitor Centre.
So, what is a creel house?
RT: The Creel house, sometimes also called a turf house, is basically a very large basket, like a coracle, or log basket. A timber cruck frame holds up the main structure and roof, with basket (creel) panels between the frame. The one at Glencoe is a rather over-engineered version, and the originals would have relied more on the creel aspect with a much skinnier timber frame.
The non-load bearing turf walls form a wind brake around the perimeter. A creel house would have been an especially common structure in the west of Britain where there was plenty of hazel in the warm damp conditions of the western seaboard.
Above left: the cruck frame, creel walls and timber roof lining
Above right: herringbone turf outer walls, with tiny window, under turf and heather thatched roof
Terroir: Who lived in them?
RT: Creel houses would have been the homes of those who dwellt in townships (villages) in this part of Scotland. The type of building housed a range of social classes within the township. People would live at one end and animals at the other. The animals would help to keep the building warm. This was once a common living arrangement, and seen in similar types of buildings such as the longhouse in Wales and western England.
Creel houses were located all over Scotland and were the predecessors of the later stone built homes. Evidence shows they existed anywhere where hazel or timber was obtainable.
Terroir: probably a silly question, by why aren’t there any left?
No original Creel houses exist today. Due to the very organic nature of the materials used in their construction they had a very limited life expectancy. They are described as pre-improvement dwellings. Landowners discouraged the use of turf as a building material in the earlier part of the 18th century, to prevent large areas of potentially fertile land being stripped. The use of stone was encouraged as a building material instead.
Many people felt that their turf and creel houses were warmer and better insulated than the new stone houses and often refused to move out of their basket dwellings. Much propaganda by the ‘establishment’ deemed these creel homes poor and squalid, and forced the eventual demise of such structures.
Terroir: why build one and why in Glencoe?
RT: It is experimental archaeology; it tries to demonstrate a lost vernacular building style, and to understand how the materials used would behave. The building will also form part of a wider interpretation in telling the local story of the massacre of Glencoe.
From my point of view, and that of many of the crafts people involved, it is hopefully creating a resource for understanding this lost typology, and to provide an example of these materials and techniques. The turf wall aspect is particularly unusual.
Above left: turf wall detail. Above centre: base stones to keep the turf dry and off the ground. Above right: modern construction and safety techniques support ancient thatching skills
Terroir: how did you know what to build and what materials to use?
The building is based on archaeological findings from the National Trust for Scotland’s (NTS) excavation of the 17th century township of Achtriachtan further up the Glen - one of the main townships which predated the Glencoe massacre in 1692. The footprint for the new creel house was based on one of the larger houses to be found in the group. Along with written historic references and maps, the findings enabled the design of the new, replica house.
The project was commissioned by NTS, and constructed at the Glencoe NTS visitor Centre as a visitor attraction. The work was mainly funded by enthusiastic American donors, keen to see a recreated creel house form part of the interpretation of the Glencoe Massacre of 1692. It was led by an architect and a team of skilled crafts people. My involvement was funded by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) as a way of creating a skills legacy, including a record of the construction process, the skills and materials required and a maintenance manual. [Terroir: if only all new houses came with one of those]
Terroir: do you think that this new Creel House looks anything like the original dwellings?
RT: I think it is similar to an original creel house, but this is a very beautiful ‘Rolls Royce’ example. I think that the originals would have been a truer product of what could be sourced close to hand. Also I imagine the houses would have been continually altered and improved to cope with the climatic influences of their locality. What is important to understand is that these houses were often only built to last a few years, but this example has been constructed to last a lot longer, so it has to be more robust!
Accounts from the time revealed a palette of what materials may have been used, but it is not always clear how exactly some of these materials may have been used, for example, the coursing of the turf walls, or the use of glass in the window. The timber frame and wattle creel infill is similar to historic references, but the need to comply with modern building regulations made this a much more over-engineered example.
Terroir: are their lessons to be learnt?
It is a great example of what we can do with the materials in a historical way but I think that these materials can be developed into a modern context too. Long lost building techniques such as constructing with turf could be used in new homes, and I think it has certainly made people more aware of these materials, and their uses.
Having worked a lot with turf over the last year I can see its merits as a building material. Turf is easier to obtain than stone and is much better insulated. It is cosy to sit within the walls of a turf house, and it does not feel cold in the same way as a stone house. I also think when it comes to self-builds that turf and timber are both very user-friendly materials for anyone to try using.
Our next blog will return to Glencoe and its creel house and look at some of the unexpected and unintended consequences of creating a traditional building in a 21st century landscape.
But the best unexpected consequence is thanks to the Society for the Protection of Ancient Building (SPAB). The SPAB Heritage Awards will be presented by Kevin McLeod on the 3rd November in London https://www.spab.org.uk/news/new-awards-celebrate-historic-buildings-and-craftspeople . There are three finalists in the ‘Building Craftsperson of the Year Award (career changer)’ and we are delighted to announce that Rob Thompson is one of those three. Good luck Rob!
All images © R J Thompson