Description

Late 19^th or early 20th century, single storey, three-bay with central door, Skye-type thatched cottage. Rubble-built with squared angles and limewashed. Single window in centre of rear wall. End chimney (one repaired). Reed thatch roof with a straw ridge scobed with hazel spars. The entire roof is netted.

Statement of Interest

These vernacular buildings, once prolific across Na h-Eileanan Siar, are now extremely rare. Taigh Violet Rose continues to show regional traditional building methods and materials and retains a significant proportion of its historic fabric, footprint, vernacular form and character. Notable features include the thick rubble walls.

The previous listed building record (written in 1985) describes the roof as thatched in marram and secured with ropes and brick weights. The property has been rethatched in reed with a straw ridge. It is one of only 54 buildings or groups of buildings in Na h-Eileanan Siar that are known to retain a thatched roof, and is among a very small number of surviving thatched buildings across Scotland. A Survey of Thatched Buildings in Scotland, published in 2016 by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), found there were only around 200 buildings of this type remaining, most of which are found in small rural communities. Thatched buildings are often traditionally built, showing distinctive local and regional building methods and materials. Those that survive are important in helping us understand these traditional skills and an earlier way of life.

Statutory address and listed building record revised in 2021 as part of the Thatched Buildings Listing Review. Previously listed as 'Benbecula 10, Uachdar'.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56623722

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

• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)