Garenin

The The Gearrannan Blackhouses is a small open air museum with nine Blackhouses in Carloway on the Isle of Lewis in a bay on the northwest coast, almost exactly opposite the island's capital Stornoway.

Description of the Museum

The museum consists of nine so-called Black Houses, which were the typical house form of tenant farmers to the time after the 2nd World War. Preserved are nine such obtained in situ houses that were abandoned in the postwar period gradually by its inhabitants and fell into disrepair. Until 1969 (other sources 1974), when the last residents moved out, they were - not least due to its remote location - the last group of inhabited Blackhouses. As of 1989, the Urras nan Gearrannan (The Garenin Trust) began to restore the houses. More than a decade later, the Black House Village was opened by HRH Princess Anne.

Currently (2013 ) a Black House is used as a visitor center with museum ticket office, shop and cafe. Another is set up as an apartment with the establishment of the last inhabitants, a further contains a small function room and information boards on the history of the village, another is a 2011 but closed hostel and the rest is as each expanded an apartment.