Scar Steading: View of interior of cattle shed, on N-W side of complex, from E

Description Scar Steading: View of interior of cattle shed, on N-W side of complex, from E

Date 10/8/1996

Collection Scottish Farm Buildings Survey

Catalogue Number D 3379

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 738885

Scope and Content Interior of cattle shed on north-west side of complex, Scar Farm, Sanday, Orkney Islands, from east Scar is a coastal farm on Sanday, one of the Orkney Islands. Sanday's economy has always relied on agriculture and its farmers were in the vanguard of agricultural improvement which reached Orkney about the middle of the 19th century. This shows the modern cattle shed which is set slightly apart from the main U-shaped complex of farm buildings. On the bottom right is the central feed passage set into the concrete floor. One end of the shed has large doors the width of the central passage. The roof is made of corrugated sheet metal. In the 17th century, Sanday paid more tax than any other Orkney island, suggesting that the island had more productive arable land than most. After agricultural improvement began in Orkney in the mid-19th century, cultivated land went from 25,000 acres in 1830 to 70,000 acres in 1870. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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