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Publication Account
Date 1996
Event ID 1016286
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016286
An unusually sheltered spot was chosen for this house, a small valley through which a burn runs down to the sea and where it has been possible to coax woodland to grow. Previously the family seat of the Traill family of Rousay was the 18th-century Westness House (HY 383290), but, after his marriage, Lt Gen Frederick W Traill Burroughs decided to commission the celebrated architect, David Bruce, to design a more imposing residence. The result was a mansion in the Scottish Jacobean style, three storeys high with an attic. The first owner's initials and the date 1873 are carved on a panel above the rear door.
The extraordinary gateway over the path leading to the kitchen-garden is built of sculptured stones found in the vicinity of St Mary's Church and the Wirk (HY 373302; see Rousay excursion). They are high quality architectural fragments, carved of red sandstone, some of 13th-century date and some of 16th-century date, and it is thought that the 13th century pieces may have been 'spares' ftom St Magnus Cathedral. More architectural fragments are built into the east end of the later St Mary's Church, and others were found in the debris of the monastery on Eynhallow (no. 44). The entrance archway into Trumland's home farm is crowned by a tower with a dovecote incorporated into its steep pyramidal roof.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Orkney’, (1996).
