A croft is the name given to a low house in which the Highland tenant farmers lived. It consisted of one room for the people and one room (barn) for the animals. This arrangement, plus the low thatched roof, the low single door and one small chimney, made for warmth in the cold Highland winters. It also made for a very smoky environment inside as there was only a small chimney for the wood fire. This is why the houses were often called Black houses, owing to the black smoke stains inside. These living conditions adapted, as best poor people could, to the weather conditions also fuelled the idea that the Highlanders were merely savages. One of the main reasons given for the wholesale clearances was that these people and their farming methods had to be modernised. It left much to be desired as to how the landowners thought burning people's houses and belongings and throwing them off the land was going to modernize their lives. But sheep made money and tenant farmers and tacksmen on the whole did not. In Sutherland 40 sheep farmers occupied land once worked by 15,000 people. In 1840 30,000 Highlanders were forced to move to Glasgow. None of them spoke English (they spoke the Gaelic tongue), they had never seen a city. The only work they had ever done was to tend to a few animals and a small bit of land. they were forced overnight into factory work. In 100 years Glasgow's population swelled from 42,000 to 477,700.

We made some crofts with whatever we could find in and around our environment, much the same as the Highlanders would have done 200 years ago. It was hard work but much fun was had in the process.

This is Kieran's description of how he made his croft. I used 3 shoe boxes, straw, cat litter, poster paint, sparay paint, elastic, masking tape, sticky tape, scissors, wool, knitting needles, matches, dolls house cupboard, glue and blue tack, as you can see. First of all I poured cat litter into a pot of glue. I then covered it in blue and orange poster paint which soon became brown as we mixed it. I then attempted to stick it onto my forst shoe box. But it soon became a problem as the cat litter would not stick and we also used a lot more cat litter than expected. I then decided to stick the cat litter on and paint it once it was dry. I then started the roof. To do this I cut a triangle in either end of the box lid and bent it over and stuck it with masking tape. We then began to stick the hay (dried grass) on to the roof. To start I spread PVA glue over the top. I stuck the hay on as soon as possible as the glue would soon dry. Another problem arose as most of the hay would not stick, so I scrapped that idea and stuck it on in bundles. I then strapped the straw down with the elastic. For the interior, I made a fire. To do this I stuck matches with their heads cut off. I then used spray paint to make the floor and walls look like stone. To separate the two I cut a doorway in a piece of card and then stuck ot to the floor and walls. I then made the box bed by putting a small box inside a bigger box and sticking it with sticky tape. To make the stools and table I stuck their legs with blue tack, The same with the beds. I then got a dolls house cupboard and put it in the childrens bedroom.

Here is a picture of our croft

How about this one then? Do you see the bundles of straw?

This is Duncan's description of how he and Owen made their croft. We made our own crofts out of the same materials as Highland crofts. We started off with a clay modelling board with a bit of card stapled on to it. We made our own cement using sand, soil, PVA glue and some other secret ingredients from home. We used real stones of different sizes which we collected from outside. We built up the walls until they were quite high, we put a lollipop stick over the doorway as a lintel. Then we made triangles out of sticks and put them on top of the walls. The roof covering was made out of straw bundles which were stuck on top of the stick triangles.

Here is Jenny building her model

Here is Duncan and Owen's model

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