Tag:historic=shieling

The location of an abandoned mountain pasture or summer mountain farm.

A  shieling is a summer pasture in the mountains, including any hut or shelter used by people tending cattle on high or remote ground. Farmers and their families lived in shielings during the summer to have their livestock graze common land. Shielings were therefore associated with the  transhumance system of agriculture. Shielings generally fell out of use during the past century, although in some areas this system continues.

The buildings of a shieling may be still be standing or there may be ruins left. The pasture may still be clearly visible or may have been overgrown.

How to map

Map shielings by putting a node in a central location for the place, usually by any remaining buildings or ruins, or create a closed polygon for the farmyard or meadow around it. If the shieling is still being used, you may also tag it place=farm if it is still a named farm, or place=isolated_dwelling if the buildings are now used as residences only.

As usual, individual objects are mappable with building=*, historic=ruins and so on.

Ruins of Loch Tay shieling

Shieling in other languages

• French:  alpage
• German:  Alm (Bergweide) /  Alp (Bergweide)
• Irish: Buaile (anglicized Booley/ Booly/ Boley)
• Italian:  Alpeggio / Malga
• Norwegian:  seter /  støl
• Swedish:  fäbod