A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are found in remote mountainous areas of Scotland, Northern England, Ulster and Wales. They are particularly common in the Scottish Highlands, but related buildings can be found around the world (for example, in the Nordic countries there are wilderness huts). A bothy was also a semi-legal drinking den on the Isle of Lewis. These, such as Bothan Eòrapaidh, were used until recent years as gathering points for local men and were often situated in an old hut or caravan.
In Scots law, bothies are defined as:[1]
"a building of no more than two storeys which—
Any such building is exempt from council tax and from legislation requiring registration for letting purposes.
The etymology of the word bothy is uncertain. Suggestions include a relation to both "hut" as in Irish bothán and Scottish Gaelic bothan or bothag;[2] a corruption of the Welsh term bwthyn, also meaning small cottage; and a derivation from Norse būð, cognate with English booth with a diminutive ending.
See main article: List of Mountain Bothies Association bothies. Most bothies are ruined buildings which have been restored to a basic standard, providing a windproof and watertight shelter. They vary in size from little more than a large box up to two-storey cottages. They usually have designated sleeping areas, which commonly are either an upstairs room or a raised platform, thus allowing one to keep clear of cold air and draughts at floor height. No bedding, mattresses or blankets are provided. Public access to bothies is either on foot, by bicycle or boat. Most have a fireplace and are near a natural source of water. A spade may be provided to bury waste.
There are thousands of examples to draw from. A typical Scottish bothy is the Salmon Fisherman's Bothy, Newtonhill, which is perched above the Burn of Elsick near its mouth at the North Sea.[3] Another Scottish example from the peak of the salmon fishing in the 1890s is the fisherman's bothy at the mouth of the Burn of Muchalls.[4] [5] A further example is the Lairig Leacach Bothy in Lochaber, not far to the east of Fort William.
Because they are freely available to all, the continued existence of bothies relies on users helping look after them.Over the years, the Mountain Bothies Association has developed a Bothy Code[6] that sets out the main points users should respect:
The Gardeners Chronicle of 1906 rather grandly defines a bothy as “the apartments in a garden allotted for the residence of under gardeners”.[8] These came in a variety of sizes. An advertisement from 1880 notes “two in bothy”.[9] At the other end of the scale was “The Royal Bothy” at Frogmore (near Windsor castle) with accommodation for 24 gardeners, and of sufficient interest to be listed in Scientific American Building Monthly.[10] A more recent summary mentions intermediate sized bothys housing three to six gardeners.[11]
Bothy quality varied as well as the size. Frogmore, in 1903, had not only lavatories and dining room, but included a sick room and reading room. However at the other extreme one author in 1842 reported:[12] Having local accommodation for gardening staff was not just a convenience but a necessity. The twelve gardeners in Baron Rothschild's bothy in France [13] not only worked the 6-till-6 day shift in 1880, but every day one of them was the “night guard” to look after the forty different fires. Another article notes that the gardeners had to be up every 4 hours at night to note the temperatures.[11]
Bothy life seems to have been varied, with some of the flavour of a student residence. In some cases gardeners were fined for being untidy, and forbidden to sing.[11] Another ex-bothy resident recalled gardeners arriving with heavy heart, having left home for the first time, but regretful years later on leaving the bothy. In “A bothy Yuletide”[14] he describes how, despite the necessity for two gardeners to remain on duty over the holiday to bank up the fires, the others accompanied them on their rounds and “the sound of Christmas carols mingled strangely with the rattle of the shovel”.
Bothies are usually owned by the landowner of the estate on which they stand, although the actual owner is rarely involved in any way, other than by permitting their continued existence, and by helping with transport of materials. Many are maintained by volunteers from the Mountain Bothies Association (MBA), a charity that looks after 97 bothies in Scotland, the north of England, and Wales.[15]
The location of these bothies can be found on the Mountain Bothies Association (MBA) website,[16] along with information on how people can help.[17]