View of top floor threshing barn from W end

Description View of top floor threshing barn from W end

Date 10/8/1996

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

Catalogue Number D 3420

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 739019

Scope and Content Top floor of threshing barn, Warsetter Farm, Sanday, Orkney Islands, from west Warsetter was a mixed arable farm which kept cattle and sheep. Located at an altitude of some 60m above sea level, Warsetter is on the highest point of Sanday, one of the largest of the Orkney Islands. Warsetter is a particularly well-preserved example of a large 19th-century Orcadian steading. This shows part of the threshing machine, divided between the upper and lower floors of the barn. On the left are straw walkers which took straw to the straw barn at the east end. Also on this floor were the pulley systems, drive belts, and grain spouts: one spout for good, heavy grain; the other for 'seconds'. The remarkably good state of Warsetter's steadings may be explained by the owner's attention to the care and maintenance of his buildings, machinery and equipment. Three generations of the McKay family were tenants of Warsetter before the present owners, the Horne family, came in the late 19th century. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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