Grain Baskets and other sacks
More like sacks than baskets these grain baskets were used to carry grain to and from mills in the Western Isles. They were made from marram grass that was woven so tightly that it was almost waterproof.
Marram grass sacks for other uses
The Reverend John Lane Buchanan noted from the 1780s in the Outer Hebrides that ‘Every beggar, male and female, must carry their blankets on their backs in a kind of sack made of grass, from house to house to sleep …Continue reading “Marram grass sacks for other uses”
Grain sack from South Uist
Similar to the plata-mhuilinn, this South Uist grain sack from Carnan is also woven from bent grass. It has 2 twisted grass handles rather than the eight handles of the Monach Island basket. It is similarly made from one flat …Continue reading “Grain sack from South Uist”
Plata-mhuilinn
The plata-mhuilinn was a form of grain basket from `Heisker’, or the Monach Isles, which lie to the west of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides.It is made from bent grass, or marram. Growing abundantly on the island dunes, bent …Continue reading “Plata-mhuilinn”
