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Publication Account
Date 1996
Event ID 1016287
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016287
Between 1846 and 1850, David Bryce designed his first large commission for David Balfour of Shapinsay: his remit to enlarge the existing family house overlooking the sheltered bay of Elwick. It was an invitation to design on a lavish scale, and accordingly Bryce created an outstanding example of a country mansion in Scottish Baronial style, with a square castellated tower rising above the main entrance, further embellished with a corner turret, with huge bay windows to the public rooms, square turrets with pyramidal roofs, tound turrets with conical roofs, crow stepped gables and a glorious conservatory almost as large as the drawingroom. The main stair remained in the central, older portion of the now Z-shaped house, but, typical of such Bryce designs, the public rooms are served by an immensely long and broad corridor into which the new main entrance opens.
Part of the village was demolished to improve the approach to the house, and Bryce designed an imposing entra nce into the grounds, which consists of an archway with a mock portcullis and flanking lodges, the whole gateway capped by a corbelled parapet. The terraced gardens were laid out by Craigie Halkett of Cramond, Edinburgh, and they include an elaborate 17th-century gateway. This belonged to an earlier house that was burned down by Hanoverian soldiers in 1746 and replaced by the L-shaped building incorporated into Bryce's grand design. It suits well the Baronial style of the later mansion. A moulded archway is flanked by columns and topped with a pediment bearing an armorial panel, the whole composition richly decorated: mermaids holding harps, men and animals playing musical instruments, and, flanking the armorial panel, unicorns and caryatid figures in 17th-century costume. The coats of arms and initials are those of Arthur Buchanan and Margaret Buxtoll and are identical to those at Carrick House on Eday (no. 19), though the date here is 1674, twelve years later than the Carrick panel.
Another legacy from the 17th century is Dishan Tower, a circular dovecote now somewhat oddly situated on the rocky fo reshore, which was restored equally oddly in the 19th century as a 'douchehouse', taking advantage of its proximity to the sea to provide a salt-water shower. This too is embellished with a corbelled and crenellated parapet and a crowstepped cap-house.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Orkney’, (1996).
