St Kilda village from the sea
n.d. Photographer unknown
There is one village on St Kilda, on Hirta the largest island of the archipelago. The village is laid out on the alignment of a typical crofting township, along the road which runs from the pier in the right foreground above. The stone dyke enclosing the village can be seen running along the hill side behind the houses. The buildings close to the pier are the church and manse. The older buildings of the village seen here are Hebridean black houses, built in the 1830s which are unpainted and have thatch roofs. In the 1860s new houses with fixed roofs were built, and these are the white houses above. Once the new houses had been built, the older houses were mainly used to house cattle in the winter, and for storage.
