Publication Account
Date 1999
Event ID 1019699
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1019699
This diminutive crowstep-gabled building was brought to the attention of RCAHMS by the owner, Peter Maclaren. It sits in a small courtyard behind Bridge Street and appears to form part of the 17th-century buildings related to the Bishops Palace to the east. A mid 20th-century sheltered housing development now separates it from the palace precinct. The ground floor entrance has a fine chamfered surround. Inside, the floor is made up of randomly set slabs. On the east wall there is a fireplace with roll-moulded jambs but with an unworked lintel. An early 20th-century photograph shows a substantial chimney on this elevation (now completely demolished). The first floor is reached by a stone forestair. On the upper floor there is evidence of further blocked openings in line with the fireplace below. The shape of the original roof survives, although now covered in asbestos sheeting. The fireplace in the north wall is a later insertion. From the east it can be seen that the building forms part of a long range of some pretension, and the scale of the upper room suggests a lodging of quality.
Information from ‘RCAHMS Excursion guide 1999: Commissioners' field excursion, Orkney, 8-10 September 1999'.
