GALL-GHAIDHEIL

The reconstruction is of the interior of a typical Norse house. It is based on archaeological research and reconstructions made elsewhere in Scandinavian countries and where Norse settlement has been found around the North Atlantic seaboard. The part of the house reconstructed in the Upper Gallery is the living area with its contents. It is intended to encourage visitors to examine the contents and thus gain an idea of the Norse domestic life as it might have been lived in the Western Isles in Viking times.

The exterior walls of the house would have been made of dry stone walling, similar to that of Iron Age houses, due to the lack of easily obtainable timber. The interior may have been lined with timber either brought with settlers, or traded, in the traditional Norse manner. Raised platforms ran either side of the length of the house, and were used for sleeping on, as working areas and possibly to sit on. A central hearth supplied heating and cooking requirements. The roof may have been thatched or turfed, the floors were made of earth. The part of the house that has not been reconstructed in the museum may have provided accommodation for cattle (cf Arnol Blackhouse).

The contents of the house are replicas based on Norse artefacts found mainly in burials and made using materials and techniques as close as possible to those used in the originals. On entering the house, turn left

The Iron Age people and the Norse settlers would have eaten the same kinds of food, although they may well have been prepared and cooked differently. Flour was ground from oats and barley, and meat came from sheep, cattle, pigs and chickens. This was added to by hunting whales, seals and deer, fishing with lines and nets, gathering the eggs of sea birds and seaweeds and shellfish. Wild herbs and vegetables such as wild cabbage, carrot, nettles, sorrel and silverweed were also included in the diet, as were seasonal berries and nuts. In this area of the house you will find:

dried carrageen
hazel nuts
green lentils
beans and peas
barley
eggs
honey on the comb
currents
dried mushrooms

Drying and salting were ways of preserving food, especially during the long, lean winter months. Salt was obtained by boiling sea water until the salt crystals remained, or by reducing the seaweed bladderwrack to ashes and using those.

Stone rotary quern for grinding grain to make flour
2 wooden ladles, one with a pouring lip
staved wooden vessals, bound with iron or willow - the buckets may have been used for storage or to contain drinks (butter milk, whey, or beer)
small bone spoons
2 small wooden bowls
small dough trough or serving dish
replica of wooden dish found in peat (see case with original)
wooden cup with lug
cow horn drinking vessels
small willow basket
cheese drainer
bread/meat knife (in thatch as safe storage place)

Bunches of dried plants are hung from the beams of the house, a list and explanation of their uses is given separately.

More cooking utensils can be seen around the central hearth.
An iron cauldron is suspended from the cross-beam by a flax rope and hook and chain. A cauldron such as this may have been used for cooking stews and soups, brewing beer and dyeing wool.
Meat hook (inside the cauldron) with three prongs for removing large pieces of meat from the cauldron.
Flat bread made from barley flour and stone-ground grain.
Iron griddle
pottery platter
bulais (adjustable cooking pot handle)
flat willow basket containing tinder and fire steel
large basket of fuel for fire
large dough trough (bread was made daily for a large extended family, workers, slaves and any guests)

The master and mistress of the house would both have a special chair or bench in a marked area (sometimes carved posts were used rather than chairs). Norse women had high status in their community as they would be responsible for the running of the house and farm when their husband was absent in the summer months raiding or trading.

This type of chest would have been important part of the furniture of a Norse house, as it would have been used for storage. It is based on the dimensions of a 9th century Viking chest that might well have been used as a sea chest, being exactly the right height to serve as a rowing bench on a ship. Its size is a salutary reminder of the small number of items owned by ordinary people at that time.

In the left hand corner of the house is a bed made up of sheep skins and a blanket woven on an upright loom. In the corner is a 9th century iron lamp, the bowl of which would have been filled with fish oil or tallow (animal fat) and a reed wick placed in it.

One of the most favoured weapons was the battle axe, the other being the sword. Sword (hanging on rear wall), considered a great treasure, often the greatest legacy a father could leave his son. Warriors were buried with their swords and shields. Spear (in thatch) a distance weapon, close fighting was done with axe or sword

The Norse were skilled spinners, weavers and embroiderers. Decorated textiles were used in houses to bring colour and comfort (click here to view separate sheet about the two hangings). All clothing was made at home, from rearing the sheep or growing the flax or nettles to the finished garment. Woollen and linen sails for Viking ships were also woven on the upright loom. Locally produced fabrics were made from wool, flax (linen) and nettle fibre (a fine linen-like cloth).

Flax was gathered once it had seeded, nettles in the autumn, both were soaked into a semi-rotted state (retting) which enabled the long fibres to be removed from the stalks by beating them. The fibres were then combed (heckled) before being spun on the drop spindle. Wool was pulled as it was moulted from small sheep such as the Soay or Hebridean breeds. It was washed, then combed and spun into yarn.

Plants and lichens were used to colour the whole fleece (for large amounts of one colour), or the spun yarn (see separate sheets on plants). Examples of hand-spun yarn coloured with dyes from plants can be seen hanging on the wall to the right of the upright loom. The Norse were very fond of bright colours and there is no reason to suppose that their lives were any less colourful than ours!

Upright loom - unfortunately no looms of this period survive. The reconstruction is based on later surviving examples and written accounts. When it is not in use, the loom can be dismantled and stored out of the way. The loom weights are made of clay, but stone was also used. The wooden sword is for beating up the weft to make a closely woven fabric, the pin beaters threaded through the warp are for making fine adjustments.

Lichens and mosses - these are in the large basket to the left of the loom (see separate sheet).

Raw fleece (in the basket to the right of the loom). This is unwashed, uncombed fleece of several breeds of sheep including Soay, Jacob and Hebridean(dark brown).

On the platform to the right of the loom: Yarn winder small cist containing dew retted strick and tow flax, with a sample of linen, and spindles.

Steatite hanging lamp (to right of loom). Steatite is also known as soapstone and is a soft stone which is easy to carve. It is found in Shetland and Norway (where it was a major export) and would have come to the Western Isles with the Norse settlers or through trade.

The tool chest is based on the dimensions of the Mastermyr chest, and a selection of tools contained therein have been reproduced:

nail drawer and nails
smith's tongs
sledge hammer
draw knife
gouge
cooper's adze (flat ended)
shipwright's adze

axe with handle
woodworking knife
file
axe head
small sledge hammer
claw hammer head

The Norse did not use coins as a form of payment, but instead used pieces of silver (hack silver) and gold which were broken up and weighed as currency, using small portable scales.

folding pocket scales (hanging from rafter)
container and pouch for scales (on platform)
weights

NORSE HOUSE RECONSTRUCTION