Croft with peat stack, Isle of Arran, Bute, c. 1900



The black and white photograph shows a longhouse type croft, built of stone and whitewashed. The roof is thatched and there are three chimneys, two in the centre of the roof, the other at the far gable end. At the far end in front of the building is a cart, with its shafts pointed skywards. Against the near gable end is a small pile of manure. In front of the croft is a large stack of peats with a man standing in front of the stack. A small fence runs in front of the croft land.

The collecting of peat was one of the important tasks on the croft, and crofters usually made sure that they had at least a year's supply cut and stacked before winter. Cutting was done by means of a peat spade and the peats were laid out to dry on the peat banks where they were cut. They were then taken back to the croft and stacked, the top peats forming a roof to keep the rest dry.

SCRAN 000-000-467-058-C; National Museums of Scotland