1017016 |
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The small island of Vaila lies just off the coast of south-west mainland Shetland, and a beautiful view of the island and the house may be enjoyed by climbing the hill above Burrastow on the adjacent mainland across Wester Sound. Vaila itself rises to a height of 80m OD on the south side where there are dramatic cliffs and stacks, and on the lower slopes there are a number of burnt mounds which testify to the attraction of the island in prehistoric times. In recent centuries settlement has been concentrated in the north-western part overlooking Vaila Sound. On the shore here are the ruins of a fishing station established in 1837 by Arthur Anderson. This was the Shetland Fishing Company, and its object was to break the lairds' monopoly of fishing; it was a successful enterprise for a few years into the 1940s. [...] |
1997 |
1017024 |
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This 17th-century house was built at a point from which all boats attempting to enter the shelter of narrow Burra Voe could be monitored, and the original track to the shore passed through its courtyard. The modern road passes just south of the intact east entrance, but the rest of the courtyard has been demolished. The house has been restored and contains a local history exhibition. [...] |
1997 |
1017027 |
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The restored buildings that form this museum include not only the immediate steading with its house, byre and barn but also a typical corn mill, and the whole complex allows a fascinating insight into rural life in Shetland a hundred years ago. The furniture and fittings are mostly original to the house, but many smaller items have come from the collections of the Shetland Museum. The various components of the farmstead were built as conjoining units, aligned downslope to help drainage from the byre set at the lower end of the dwelling range. A cross-passage between the byre and the living-room provides access as well to the barn built longside the north wall of the house. Another door in the opposite wall of the barn allowed the creation of the cross-draught necessary for winnowing. The circular corn-drying kiln is at the upper end of the barn, and a storeroom at the lower end. At the upper end of the house, beyond the living-room, there is the bedroom with a wooden box bed and a wooden cradle. Both the dwelling range and the adjoining barn are roofed with thatch over a timber frame, held against the wind by ropes and stone weights. The west gable of the dwelling range incorporates a stone-built chimney, but there is an interesting reconstruction of a thatched smokehole midway between the two gables which served the original living-room hearth. [...] |
1997 |