An unusual house at West Hynish

The group of people and the date of the photograph are unknown, although it was probably taken in the early 1900s. What is interesting about this picture is the house. Tiree`s traditional houses usually fall into one of four distinctive types: thatched roof, black felt roof, or 1 and a 1/2 - storey croft house fully or partially painted white. The one pictured here would have originally been thatched, but by the time of the photo had been converted to black felt, and is also partially painted, or `spotty`, as they are known. There are no longer any spotty one-storey cottages such as this one on the island. The spotty appearance was simply to save money on paint, as only the mortar between the stones needs to be painted.