Description

Dated 1788. 2 storey and attic country house of L plan with lean to wings to E and N gables. Harled rubble walls with droved ashlar margins to windows and doors.

S ELEVATION: 3 bay symmetrical elevation with single storey, single bay lean to (formerly gabled) wing partially infilled former entrance door at ground in centre bay; corniced, with moulded architrave and frieze inscribed J B S 1788. Regular fenestration in flanking bays and at 1st floor; centre window with keystone on lintel, flanking windows with rounded projecting cills. Single storey, single bay lean to wing (formerly gabled) to right.

W (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: asymmetrical, 4 bay elevation with single storey, single bay lean to wing (formerly gabled) to left. 2 bay end gable of S range advanced at right; regular fenestration with projecting curved margins at ground, and curved cills and keystoned lintels at 1st floor. 2 bay section recessed at left; polished and droved ashlar single storey entrance porch in re entrant angle; tripartite window with radial fanlight above in W side, vertically boarded timber door with radial fanlight in N side. Regular fenestration in bay to left and at 1st floor; tripartite window at 1st floor in bay to left.

E (REAR) ELEVATION: blank gable advanced at left; lean to wing (former milk house) at ground; 3 bay elevation recessed at right with smaller windows in bay to left, blank at ground in bays to right, lean to (formerly with pyramidal roof) immediately at right with modern glazing; single bay, single storey lean to wing extending to right.

Timber sash and case windows, mainly 12 pane, 4 pane in centre bay of

S elevation and tripartite in W elevation, lying panes to porch, modern glazing in W gable. Purple grey slate roof to principal pitches, corrugated sheet cladding to lean to wings. Harled and coped apex stacks with circular cans to each gable.

WALLS AND GATEPIERS: coped random rubble L plan wall enclosing garden adjacent to E side of house. Rubble walled garden along E side of approach to farm; stugged sandstone piers at corners, and to 2 gateways in W side and centring N side.

Statement of Interest

Bigton belonged to the Stewart family from 1634. John Bruce 4th of Symbister married Clementina Stewart of Bigton in 1744, assuming additional surname of Stewart and building this house in 1788. In 1774, the Reverend George Low found Bigton the biggest farm in Shetland, full of beer and oats 'both as good of their kinds as even in the south of Scotland'.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17851515

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014