Publication Account

Date 1996

Event ID 1016296

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016296

RCAHMS: Exploring Scotland's Heritage - Orkney, 1996

The range of buildings belonging to this steading date from the mid 18th century, and they have been beautifully restored to evoke a strong sense of farming life in the mid 19th century (the farm was inhabited until the mid 20th century, when its potential for the creation of a rural museum was recognised, and it was bought by Orkney County Council). Not only has the fabric of the buildings been restored, but they have also been furnished with contemporary fittings and equipment typical of 19th-century life - you are likely to find a resident hen, to see Orkney cheeses maturing and fish drying, and to smell the peat burning on the hearth. In 1981, the museum won the Award of the Association for the Preservation of Rural Scotland 'as a particularly fine example of restoration work in a rural setting'.

The three major buildings form a close-knit group running parallel to each other, with paving between them: the dwelling range, a barn and stable range and a separate byre. It is likely that the west end of the dwelling was originally a byre, but, by the mid 19th century, it had become a parlour with adjacent kitchen, living room and bedroom. The byre is furnished with stone partition-slabs, forming stalls, and a central drain, accommodating the cattle over the winter. The original stable for the native small horses is attached to the south side of the barn, with a manger built into the wall at either end, but the adoption of larger work horses in the 19th century led to the provision of a larger stable at the east end of the barn, which has timber-built stalls. The barn itself was primarily concerned with the preparation of grain for grinding into flour: a clay floor where the grain was threshed, opposing doorways to create the through-draught for winnowing, and a circular kiln for drying the grain. All the roofs consist of flagstones on a timber frame, covered with an insulating layer of turf.

The steading is well placed, with the Burn of Corrigall nearby to provide a source of water not only for domestic use but also, by the later 19th centuty, for a separate threshing mill powered by a water-wheel, the water for which was carried in an unusual aqueduct over the burn.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Orkney’, (1996).