Hey, Metchosin! When the heck was this piece written ---"50 years ago the houses..."----"Ayrshire--adjacent to Lanarkshire"....Is this a piece by McGonigle? Can't be; not even the genius who wrote about the Tay Bridge Disaster could possible rant on about the state of the farm houses being thus "50 years ago". Could have been Blind Harry, or Edward the Confessor, maybe? Mind you, I will say this---the housing described does come close to the conditions found in the West Highland "black-houses", the demise of which was fairly recent. The cattle and the human family did indeed shelter under the same thatch. The fire was usually in the middle of the floor, and there were seldom any chimneys. The smoke [I am assured] formed a layer which didn't come below head height, and percolated through the thatch above. This had the effect of ensuring a completely bug free environment. I vividly remember visiting a preserved example of a black-house near Kingussie, and standing next to an old lady who actually dissolved into tears over her happy girlhood memories of her own "black-house" home. Hey, there can be no finer space-heaters than a couple of old highland cows munching away just behind the wooden divider!