Vital vernaculars

Allan Massie reviewed the book The Scottish Clearances by T M Devine in The Scotsman Magazine at the weekend and left out any mention of two characteristic features of the clearances in the Lowlands.

Firstly, the inhabitants of these parts were bilingual, the Scots language was spoken along with the English of the King James Bible in every district from Shetland to Berwick. This produced a rich tradition of song, poetry and writing from the bothy ballads to the works of Hugh Macdiarmid, born in Langholm. It is misleading to overlook this and its influence on Scots culture, particularly because this language was closely associated with another distinctive cultural activity, Scottish vernacular architecture.

The Scots in history had lived in locally-sourced houses: the blackhouse in the Highlands and Islands and cruck-framed houses in the Lowlands, for example. In the clearances of the Lowlands which were to change the ancient runrig system to the “improved” fields of today, the landowners allowed tenants to start building permanent stone houses.

These took on many forms, from cottars’ rows and East Neuk fishing villages to inland fermtouns. They were very often visually attractive and acknowledged to this day to be desirable.

These two skilful vernaculars and their worth should be recognised.

IAIN W D FORDE Scotlandwell, Kinross-shire