Description

Dated 1884. Farm comprising single storey and attic 3-bay house with low single storey wing to rear, closing S side of U-plan steading with threshing mill at NE corner and separate contemporary range aligned to W. Harl-pointed rubble walls with stugged sandstone ashlar dressing and details.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: symmetrical, farmhouse advanced at centre with gabled porch projecting in centre bay comprising modern entrance door in S side with datestone to finialled gablehead above, and mullioned bipartite sidelights; 4-pane timber sash and case windows in left bay, modern window in right bay; symmetrical S gables of E and W ranges of steading recessed at left and right, each comprising window centred at ground with shouldered wallhead stack breaking eaves above; datestone to base of W stack.

W ELEVATION: asymmetrical, W range of steading bisected by courtyard entrance to right; wide doorway in pavilion-like S section to outer right; wide doorways to outer left and right of N section, latter with 2-leaf vertically-boarded timber doors and additional door adjacent to left; window to left in gable of house recessed at right.

N ELEVATION: asymmetrical, door offset to right of centre; door to outer left with loft door above breaking eaves in slate-hung dormer with pitched roof.

E ELEVATION: asymmetrical, blank, except for large cast-iron waterwheel to outer right; wheel by Harper & Co of Aberdeen with square axle mounted to E on substantial rubble pier; window to right in gable of house recessed at left.

COURTYARD: roughly cobbled courtyard bounded by symmetrical 3, 5, and 7-bay elevations to S, E, and N respectively; door lintel breaking eaves at in centre bay of low S elevation with windows in flanking bays; vertically-boarded timber door in centre bay of E elevation, square windows in flanking and penultimate bays to left and right, vertically-boarded timber doors in outer bays; vertically-boarded timber door in centre bay of N elevation, small rectangular windows below eaves in flanking bays.

Purple-grey slate roofs, piended at corners of steading; sandstone ashlar skew copes to house, N pitch sweeping down to low wallhead of rear wing. Stugged sandstone ashlar gablehead stacks to house with stone copes and circular cans.

W BARN: infilled window centring S elevation (now built up as gable) below shouldered former wallhead stack. Door to outer left in E elevation, variety of modern openings to right; corrugated-iron roof.

Statement of Interest

Windhouse farm was built at the time the nearby laird?s house was being substantially altered and extended. The care given to the construction and formal post-improvement design of the steading is perhaps unique in Shetland, and interesting as it is of better quality than that applied to the house at the time. The S elevation of the W barn has been altered to a gable, but appears to have matched the S-facing ends of the steading. Windhouse is perhaps the best example in Shetland of a farm associated with a laird?s house, and having undergone little alteration is a particularly valuable survivor.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17853630

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

• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)