North Haa
Date 30 May 2013
Event ID 961114
Category Management
Type Site Management
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/961114
Laird's house comprising symmetrical 2-storey 3-bay remodelling of 17th century house, connected by central 2-storey link to 2-storey and attic 3-bay classical remodelling of later 18th century house to S; latter flanked to E and W by walls connecting to single storey single bay.
The present house was created by John Ogilvy of Quarff soon after his marriage in 1829 to Barbara Grace Robertson who was heiress to the estate. He embarked on a remodelling of what was probably a 17th century house with a grander front block added around 1770. Ogilvy rebuilt the older house, and added the classical details and pavilions to the front block which is likely to have been a standard large Shetland haa of 3 bays with high wallhead concealing a garret. The formal arrangement of garden seems to also date from the remodelling, with the design centring on the S block. This includes the semicircular enclosure to the N which adjoins, but otherwise ignores, the N block. The pier is perhaps Shetland's finest example of a domestic pier. Viewed from the main road, North Haa provides a spectacular focus to this part of western Yell, and indicates the impact the tall lowland design of the haas once had throughout Shetland. (Historic Scotland)
