1016287 |
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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. [...] |
1996 |
1016288 |
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Clestrain was part of the vast estates of the Honeyman family, and the original house was ransacked by the infamous pirate, John Gow, in 1725 (see no. 19). It was replaced in 1768 by an entirely new Georgian mansion, built for Patrick Honeyman, third laird of Graemsay, the island overlooked by the more conve niently located house. It consists of three floors, with a broad projecting centre bay which contains the entrance into the middle floor, framed by moulding and approached by a stair. This central bay was probably topped by a pediment to balance the steep roof, as shown in the reconstruction drawing, but, at the time of writing, the house is sadly derelict. The public rooms are likely to have been on the middle floor, with bedrooms above and the kitchen and family rooms in the basement. There were low pavilions on either side of the house, linked to it by walling, but only one pavilion survives. [...] |
1996 |
1016295 |
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This attractive beehive dovecote with its four external string-courses is unique in the Northern Isles. The nests for the pigeons are simply irregular gaps left in the rough masonry of the internal wallface. [...] |
1996 |