- like shiel, a shieling could be either a hut or shelter used by shepherds in high or remote areas of pasture land, or it could refer to the pasture land itself, where sheep and cattle were traditionally driven in summer. Shielings are often mentioned in charters, especially in the detailed lists of the components of an estate. In his autobiography of 1800, the Scottish church leader Alexander Carlyle recalled visiting one such shelter:
I was obliged to lodge in what they call a shieling, where I was used with great hospitality and uncommon politeness by a young farmer and his sister, who were then residing there, attending the milking of the ewes.