Yinstay, Scarpigar

FORMER DWELLINGHOUSE/LONGHOUSE RANGE: E (CLOSS) ELEVATION: deep-set boarded door with stone lintel, breaking eaves, set to left of centre. S (END) ELEVATION: blank gable.N(END) ELEVATION: former doorway, offset to left of gable, (blocked). W (REAR) ELEVATION: blank.Fine turf and straw roof with flagstone easing course; turf covered with modern netting, secured by individual anchor stones. INTERIOR: exposed timber rafters and tie beams; flagstone floor.

A fine and well-preserved example of an Orkney farm of typical layout, with the dwelling house and the byre/barn ranges lying in parallel lines. As Paul Newman notes in his article on pre-improvement agricultural buildings, 'Generally, the long axis of any group of buildings lies up and down the slope', as is the case here. He adds that they too are 'generally separated by a narrow closs'. The roofs are traditionally and finely maintained here, almost to the letter of Newman's theory; 'It seems probable that most of the roofs would have been thatched ....Flagstones would have been used as wall plates and there would probably have been a row of flagstones resting on edge on the wall plates if the roofs had been needled with simmens'. Details are also given as to the composition of the simmons and their arrangement over the roof frame. In the early part of this century, various kinds of netting tended to replace the straw simmens. Agriculture shifted emphasis from grain growing to cattle rearing, so there became less straw available for their production. Top simmens had to be renewed every year and steadily they were replaced by netting, as is the case at Scarpigar. (Historic Scotland)

BARN/BYRE RANGE: W (CLOSS) ELEVATION: irregular, 3-bay elevation, grouped 1-2. Deep-set boarded door to byre bay to outer left (N). Centred, deep-set boarded door to barn; boarded door to left. S (END) ELEVATION: 2-leaf boarded doors to gabled elevation. N (END) ELEVATION: blank gable. E (REAR) RANGE: blank. Turf and straw-covered byre roof; stone easing course; straw covered with modern netting, secured by individual anchor stones. Flagstone barn roof with cement infill; stone ridge. INTERIOR: used as store. Exposed rafters and tie beams; flagstone floor.

A fine and well-preserved example of an Orkney farm of typical layout, with the dwelling house and the byre/barn ranges lying in parallel lines. As Paul Newman notes in his article on pre-improvement agricultural buildings, 'Generally, the long axis of any group of buildings lies up and down the slope', as is the case here. He adds that they too are 'generally separated by a narrow closs'. The roofs are traditionally and finely maintained here, almost to the letter of Newman's theory; 'It seems probable that most of the roofs would have been thatched ....Flagstones would have been used as wall plates and there would probably have been a row of flagstones resting on edge on the wall plates if the roofs had been needled with simmens'. Details are also given as to the composition of the simmons and their arrangement over the roof frame. In the early part of this century, various kinds of netting tended to replace the straw simmens. Agriculture shifted emphasis from grain growing to cattle rearing, so there became less straw available for their production. Top simmens had to be renewed every year and steadily they were replaced by netting, as is the case at Scarpigar. (Historic Scotland)