Shieling

A shieling is a small house or hut once common in the hills and mountains of Scotland and northern England. Farmers and their families lived there during the summer, when their livestock were grazing common land in the hills. Shielings were therefore associated with the transhumance system of agriculture and generally fell out of use by the end of the 17th century, although in remote areas this system continued into the 18th.^[1]

Ruins of shielings are abundant in high or marginal land in Scotland and N. England, along with "shield" place-names or their Gaelic equivalents. Some were constructed of turf and tend to gradually erode and disappear but traces of stone-built structures persist. The few archaeological investigations of shielings which have been published reveal very few finds to enable accurate dating, but shielings can sometimes be shown to be mediaeval in origin and were occasionally occupied permanently after abandonment of the transhumance system. The construction of associated structures such as stack-stands and enclosures indicate that they may have become farmsteads, some of which evolved into modern farms; in other cases it is thought that they were occupied by gypsies.

The well-known folksong Mairi's Wedding contains the phrase "past the shieling, through the town" which helps protect this word from obscurity.

References

1. ^ As discussed in "Britain and Ireland 1050-1530: Economy and Society", By R. H. Britnell, pg 209.