It is likely that heather has been used for bedding since prehistoric times. Archaeological excavations of an Iron Age settlement in Glen Bracadale have found concentrations of heather shoots and flowers that suggest this use.

Heather beds have come in for some extravagant praise. First, George Buchanan, tutor to James VI, observed in the sixteenth century ....

"In this manner they form a bed so pleasant, that it may vie in softness with the finest down, while in salubrity it far exceeds it; for heath, naturally possessing the powers of absorption, drinks up the superfluous moisture, and restores strength to the fatigued nerves, so that those who lie down languid and weary in the evening, arise in the morning vigorous and sprightly."

Both Martin Martin and John Lightfoot found heather beds on Skye fragrant, refreshing, health-restoring and almost as soft as a feather mattress. To make a heather bed, the longest, straightest stalks of young heather in full flower were pulled up and laid out to dry. They were then packed in the bed (often no more than a wooden frame against the wall to hold the heather in) with all the tops uppermost and leaning slightly towards the bed head.

The effect has been likened to a Turkish carpet, and the fragrance from the nectar rich flowers was said to be soporific. Sometimes the heather was mixed with ferns.

Another use of heather was observed in Harris in 1853 by Osgood Mackenzie. Calling on a thatched house in Harris in search of fresh milk one morning, he witnessed a scene that was no doubt routine to the inhabitants, but which impressed him so much he never forgot it. He had to wait while the good wife who 'like all the Harris people, had charming manners', served breakfast to her family:

"There was a big pot hanging by a chain over the peaty fire, and a creel heaped up with short heather, which the women tear up by the roots and with which they bed the cows. The wife took an armful of this heather and deposited it at the feet of the nearest cow ... to form a drainer. Then, lifting the pot off the fire, she emptied it on to the heather; the hot water disappeared and ran away among the cow's legs, but the content of the pot consisting of potatoes and fish boiled together, remained on top of the heather. Then from a very black looking bed three stark naked boys arose one by one, aged, I should say, from six to ten years, and made for the fish and potatoes, each youngster carrying off as much as both his hands could contain."

Eventually Mackenzie got his milk, but the scene he had witnessed rather spoiled his appetite.

Reference:
The Scots Herbal. The plant lore of Scotland.
Tess Darwin. Mercat Press, Edinburgh. 1996.

When we were young boys, we used to live over at Strom, and our father had a croft and we used to have haystacks and cornstacks.

In order to prevent them being blown away by the wind he used - not the ordinary rope - but the rope made from heather.

He used to go over to the hill to get long heather, because there was no long heather growing nearby. And he used to bring it back in big bundles on his back, then he would strip down the heather so you just had a single stem for each one, and then he used to sort of braid it into a rope - quite a highly skilled job.

He would make the rope just as long as he needed it, for the cornstacks and the haystacks. Some people used it for the roofs of their houses as well, because they had thatched houses, and there again, later on they used wire netting, but earlier on they used heather rope. It was very good for preventing the thatch from being blown away in the wind.

They used to strip down the leaves off the long heather, and use just the main stem for the rope. You could make it various thicknesses too, and I remember seeing my father's great big coils of it all ready for the harvest.

Source:
[Ian Mackinnon, South Uist]