Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

BROUGH FARM, STEADINGLB47993

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
C
Date Added
30/03/2001
Local Authority
Orkney Islands
Planning Authority
Orkney Islands
Parish
Westray
NGR
HY 44893 47504
Coordinates
344893, 1047504

Description

Later 19th century. Large; single storey, single storey and loft and 2-storey steading built around an E-plan (central range detached from main U-plan block), forming 2 open-sided yards to SE. Retains wheelhouse for water-powered threshing machine (threshing machinery still intact, 2000) to NE range. Coursed rubble, partially harled. Coped gables.

SW ELEVATION: partial loft to SW range (containing stables and byre); steps up to entrance to outer right return (see SE Elevation). 2 windows to outer right.

NE ELEVATION: NE range (containing granary, barn and bothy) built into sloping ground and largely 2-storey. Steps up to 1st floor bothy entrance (boarded timber door) to outer left; ascending to right with base at right angles adjoining SE gable end and small dovecote (2 rows of 4 flight holes/nesting boxes) to outer face. L-plan lean-to (formerly housing water wheel for driving threshing mill) to outer right. Window to left. Entrance to left return. Opening to right return to admit water from adjacent lade (running parallel to range to right). Entrance set back to left. 2 windows to far left of ground floor. Row of 9 small regularly disposed windows to 1st floor.

NW ELEVATION: single storey NE range (containing byre) with rectangular-plan projecting section (with separate gabled roof) to left of centre; 2 large entrances; window in between and outer flanking windows; entrance with boarded timber door to left return. Later rectangular-plan concrete addition (with single pitch roof) adjoins to right. Concrete tank set back to left. Window to outer left of range. Gable end of NE range adjoins to left; large inserted/enlarged entrance with 2-leaf boarded timber door; opening to gable immediately above.

SE ELEVATION: end wall of central range blank; lean-to addition adjoins to left; entrance with window to right. Rectangular-plan yards set back to either side. Gable ends of SW and NE ranges to either side; former (to outer left) with steps up (ascending to right) to central loft entrance. SW YARD: SW ELEVATION: 2 entrances (with boarded timber doors) to outer left; window to left. Entrance (with boarded timber door) to outer right; alternate windows and entrances (with boarded timber doors) to 5 bays to right. NW ELEVATION: entrance with boarded timber door to right of centre; 2 windows to left/outer left (both formerly entrances). Window to outer right. Entrance (with boarded timber door) to right, occupying space to NW of detached central wing; window to right. NE ELEVATION: later lean-to to slightly lower height section to right; entrance (with boarded timber door) to right of centre; window to outer right; 2 windows to outer left (one formerly entrance). Entrance (with boarded timber door) set back to right of centre to left section. Large entrance to right. Window to left. NE YARD: SW ELEVATION: 2 entrances to right of slightly lower height section to right; blocked entrance to outer left. Blocked entrance to left of right section. NW ELEVATION: entrance to left of centre. Window to outer right. NE ELEVATION: large near central segmental-headed cartshed entrance (boarded timber door); formerly with 2 identical entrances to either side (all now blocked; window to one on each side). Entrance (with boarded timber door) to right; window to right. Entrance (with boarded timber door) to outer right. Entrance to outer left; window to left. Row of small windows (grouped 4-1-5) to 1st floor; larger window to outer right.

Variety of 2 and 4-pane fixed/removable timber frame and corrugated perspex windows; some missing; timber boarding/internal shutters to NE range (including granary). Welsh slate roofs; that to central range piended (piended gable to NW); only sarking remaining to its SE section. Gablehead stacks with band courses to SE of NE and SW ranges; later coped ridge stack to central range; each with single round can.

INTERIOR: wheelhouse intact to NE range adjoining barn/granary. Substantial threshing machinery intact and much of gearing system for driving it. Bothy fireplace at SE end. SW range contains timber posts supporting manger and hayrack for cattle in byre and timber stalls with hayrack for horses in stable section at NW end. Internal divisions/fittings removed to NW range. Lean-to addition to central range occupied by byre.

Statement of Special Interest

An impressive large improved steading of later 19th century date. The 2-storey range to the NE containing the barn/granary with its water-powered threshing mill is particularly interesting. Water-powered threshing mills (apparently the process was subsequently mechanised at Brough) were rare, horse engines being more common. The no longer extant pond and sluice which fed it are shown just to the NW on the 1881 OS map. A depression in the ground indicates location of former pond. It was the estate farm for nearby Brough House (see separate list description). The adjacent farmhouse (see separate list description) is earlier, dating from the late 18th/early 19th century (as does Brough House itself). The estate belonged to the Stewart family (Edward, the first laird, was an illegitimate son of Earl Robert Stewart of Orkney) from around the end of the 16th century until the middle of the 19th century (it was left to trustees by the 8th laird, James Stewart, in 1858). According to Fenton it belonged to the Traill family during the same period (the two families do appear to have been related however). In the early 1840's 'Mr Stewart of Brugh' was described as the head of one of only two families of independent fortune residing in the parish (then including Papa Westray, New Statistical Account). By 1880 it was certainly in the possession of the Traills of Holland (OS Name Book), for whom the steading may have been built. The steading is shown in its current plan-form on the 1881 OS Map.

References

Bibliography

OS NAME BOOK, Westray Parish (1880); 1st Edition County Series OS MAP, 1/2500 (1881); THE NEW STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF SCOTLAND (1845) pp123 & 127; Alexander Fenton, THE NORTHERN ISLES: ORKNEY AND SHETLAND (1978) pp95 & 145; Leslie Burgher, ORKNEY, AN ILLUSTRATED ARCHITECTURAL GUIDE (1991) p96; Jocelyn Rendall, PAPAY - A GUIDE TO PLACES OF INTEREST (2nd Edition, 1996) p24.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

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Printed: 04/04/2026 07:10