View of dovecot from W

Description View of dovecot from W

Date 4/6/1997

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number D 23630 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 739010

Scope and Content Warsetter Dovecot, Sanday, Orkney Islands, from west Warsetter is on Sanday, one of the largest of the Orkney Islands. Sanday is low-lying and almost treeless with fertile, sandy soils and a temperate climate. Warsetter is on the highest point of the island and is a well-preserved example of a 19th-century Orcadian steading. This shows the stone dovecot with flagstone roof rising up on three sides. On the right is a telephone mast and, on the left, two concrete water storage tanks. Water was pumped up to these tanks from whence it was gravity-fed for use in the steading, house and field troughs. Pigeons were a useful source of fresh meat and eggs at times of the year when such food was scarce. Although most of Warsetter's steading dates from the 19th century, the dovecot was built in the 17th-century. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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