Crofthouse, Crow's Nest, Rackwick, Stromness and South Isles, Orkney Islands

Description

Crow's Nest (known locally as Craa Nest or Craa's Nest) is an 18^th century croft including crofthouse with an adjoining barn and circular kiln to the west, and a detached net store or bothy to the south, restored in 1991/92 as part of a local museum. It is situated on the lower slopes of Moor Fea at Rackwick on the island of Hoy.

The layout of this group of buildings is in the traditional Orcadian style, with a narrow closs (passage) between the two linear ranges. The walls and floors are of local flagstone. The roofs were reinstated (1991/92) with hand sawn and pegged larch cabers and a straw and turf covering. Over-seamed flagstones project between the wallhead and the roof. There is a ridge chimneystack and a small chimneystack on the west gable of the cottage. The detached net store/bothy has a timber door and two windows.

The interiors were seen in 2019. On the north side of the closs, the two-roomed crofthouse has a recessed fireplace in the west wall with a stone lintel, and a sae bink (circular recess for a water barrel) near the entrance. Beside the fireplace, stone steps lead through a passage to the bedroom on higher ground to the west. Adjoining the west gable is a barn with a separate entrance and a winnowing door. The east end of the barn has a circular drying kiln with storage for grain offset to the left.

Statement of Interest

Crow's Nest (Craa Nest) meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:

It is an outstanding example of a small, traditional group of croft buildings of 18^th–19^th century date that is little-altered in its plan form and design, and which demonstrates a range of building techniques typical of Orkney.

The building retains its rural coastal setting and is prominent within an important wider group of surviving vernacular buildings at Rackwick, Hoy.

The survival and quality restoration of croft buildings of this period in the traditional Orcadian plan form, with turfed roof, kiln, barn and store, is exceptionally rare.

It is one of only nine buildings or groups of buildings in Orkneythat are known to retain an intact thatched roof and among a small number of thatched buildings across Scotland.

As a rare surviving example of a little altered croft, and among the oldest buildings in Rackwick, it contributes to understanding life and the community in Rackwick Bay during the 18^th-19^th centuries.

Historical development

The first documentary reference to the township of Rackwick is in Lord Henry Sinclair's Rental of 1492. The earliest identified inhabitants settled there following a shipwreck in 1679 (Rendall, 2006). It is not currently known how long a croft has occupied the site of Crow's Nest, but the current buildings are among the earliest surviving at Rackwick. The early provenance is indicated by the high position on the hillside, hence its name. Craa is an old Scottish word for crow which, like a number of words in the Orkney dialect, does not always change in the plural. The higher land was likely to have been more readily cultivable than the wetter ground on the valley floor and its orientation, at right-angles to the steeply sloping ground, aided drainage.

The early footprint of Crow's Nest is shown in its present plan form of three associated buildings set close together on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1880). Photographs of the exterior and the interior were taken by the renowned travel photographer, George Washington Wilson during the late 1880s and early 1890s. They show the buildings with roofs thatched using rope-like needles of straw (known as 'simmens') in the traditional Orcadian method (HES, 1996).

The roofless remains of Crow's Nest and its kiln were restored in 1991/92 for public access as part of a small rural museum at Rackwick. The restoration work was part funded by the Countryside Premium Scheme for vernacular buildings. Works were carried out by the Scottish Conservation Project Trust under the guidance of a local building contractor specialising in the reconstruction of traditional buildings. The buildings were reroofed with a pegged larch beam roof covered with slate, straw and a thick turf thatch. It was decided not to use straw needle thatch due to the exposed site and the relatively short lifespan of this thatching method.

The interiors were also partly furnished with locally salvaged items of furniture and a custom-made timber box bed. The building has not been altered further since 1992 and remains in good condition (2020).

Architectural interest

The architectural interest of a building may include its design, designer, interior, plan form, materials, regional traditions, and setting and the extent to which these characteristics survive. These factors are grouped under two headings:

Design

Crow's Nest is an outstanding example of a vernacular building of 18^th century design that is little-altered in its plan form, and which demonstrates a range of traditional building techniques typical of Orkney.

Small traditional farms or crofts of Orkney are usually single storey crofthouses made up of two or sometimes three rooms with an adjoining barn or byre. The design and construction of such buildings, the methods of roofing and the materials used relate to distinctly localised practices during the 18^th and 19^th centuries, influenced by the geology and climate of Orkney.

The low form and thick and irregular rubble walls at Crow's Nest are typical of the region in protecting against Atlantic storms. The walls of Crow's Nest are constructed from undressed stone, which is likely to have been gathered from the surrounding land and are largely unaltered. The thickness ensures the walls could support the weight of the roof, particularly if a flagstone covering was used underneath the thatch. There are also minimal openings in the rear elevation of the buildings.

The plan form of the buildings is unaltered and has notable surviving features including a closs (narrow passage) between the buildings, and the overall orientation of the ranges with respect to the hillslope. The closs narrows to a point where the dwelling house and the barn meet, giving a sense of enclosure and protection from the exposed hillside location. The narrow, linear plan form of the buildings is typical because it reduced the distance the timber roof supports needed to span.

The interiors of traditional crofthouses and cottages of this date were simple. Many of those that survive have been refurbished and the survival of historic fixtures is rare. At Crow's Nest, the large fireplace lintel, wall recesses, stone steps and flagstone floors are all likely to date to its construction (Newman, 1992), and their survival is part of the special architectural interest of this building.

While authenticity of material can be an important factor in assessing the significance of thatched buildings, buildings which have been repaired (perhaps with new roofing material or rethatched) can also be listed. The retention of the overall traditional character of vernacular buildings is therefore important in determining their special architectural or historic interest.

In this case, the buildings at Crow's Nest were re-roofed as part of the 1991/92 renovation project using traditional materials and methods appropriate to Orkney, including turf-roofing over flagstones and larch timber cabers, sourced from mainland Scotland (Highland region). A turf covering and the over-seamed flagstones between the top of the side walls and the roof are traditional Orcadian material and practices to aid the run-off of rainwater away from the walls, and it adds to the traditional character of the building.

Crow's Nest has outstanding architectural interest for its traditional design, authentic character, unaltered plan-form and surviving interior details.

Setting

The remote hillside setting of Crow's Nest adds considerably to its special interest in listing terms.

The location of croft and fishing communities can provide valuable information about changing settlement patterns and land-use. Rackwick is a coastal valley located on the dramatic west coast of Hoy, the westernmost island in Orkney. Vertical red-sandstone sea cliffs, the tallest in the UK, rise up on either side of the valley. This area takes the full force of Atlantic gales and has a warm microclimate in the summer.

Rackwick has a substantial amount of upstanding remains of earlier dwellings and buildings, showing the 19th century scattered settlement pattern as shown on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map (revised 1900). Some buildings have been restored as holiday accommodation while others survive as roofless shells. Overall, the level of survival and lack of later development and alteration at Rackwick makes it among the best examples of a pre-Improvement farming settlement in Orkney.

The Crow's Nest's relationship with its immediate and wider surroundings and its landscape, including views down over the wide arc of Rackwick Bay is exceptional. It is a prominent building in the Rackwick Bay landscape, located on a hillside surrounded by dramatic red sandstone cliffs and hills. Crow's Nest is intervisible with other thatched buildings, including Burnmouth Bothy (LB46375), The Mount (LB46377) and Muckle House (LB46376). There is also a small cottage at Glen House which currently houses the Rackwick archive. The Old School House is conserved as part of the local museum group along with Crow's Nest and a heather-thatched threshing barn (see separate listing, LB52547). Collectively, these buildings show traditional vernacular methods of construction and therefore contribute to the built heritage and historic character of Rackwick.

Historic interest

Age and rarity

Crow's Nest has outstanding interest as a near-intact example of a 18^th–19^th century group of croft buildings. Pre-agricultural improvement period buildings that largely retain their traditional character are now rare in Orkney.

The survival of thatch-roofed buildings is rare. There are only nine buildings in Orkney known to have thatched roofs (2020). Rackwick Bay contains the highest concentration of thatch-roofed buildings including Muckle House (LB46376) and the Burnmouth Bothy (LB46375). The use of turf as a roofing material has a long tradition in Scotland but is now also exceptionally rare in Orkney.

Social historical interest

Rackwick is a remote farming and fishing settlement on the largely uninhabited west coast of Hoy. There is little early recorded history relating to its development. The Old Statistical Account of 1795 notes that the size of farms on the island of Hoy were small and produced little grain. The remnants of several ruinous dwellings are spread across the bay. The earliest dwellings that survive at Rackwick were probably first constructed during the 18^th century. The population grew from around 40 residents in 1850 to around 80 by 1900, before numbers dwindled again by the mid-20th century (Rendall, 2006). Rackwick-born Jack Rendall (1928-2015) became the sole permanent inhabitant for several years during the 1970s. Electricity was first introduced to Rackwick in 1979. There are currently around five people in permanent residence (2021).

Crofting settlements fulfilled the individual and communal needs of the community. Buildings would be built using long-established and simple construction methods without the need for highly specialised tools. A croft was often a component of a larger farming settlement or 'ferm toun'. This type of subsistence living based around the need for shelter, fishing, seasonal livestock and crop management, changed little in Orkney for many hundreds of years.

The gradual evolution of crofts took place during the 19th century as improved agricultural methods were adopted in Orkney, but at a significantly slower pace in comparison to mainland Scotland. As a result, substantial elements of traditional, pre-improvement farming patterns and building techniques survived well into the 20th century. By the end of the 20th century, the farming landscape of Orkney had been comprehensively altered by a wide range of factors. These included improved transport links, changes in agricultural legislation and the importing of standardised building materials from mainland Scotland. Many pre-1900 crofthouses were either rebuilt, substantially reworked or abandoned by 1960.

The Crow's Nest and the neighbouring 'Old School House' are both open to the public as part of a museum containing information about the history of Rackwick and its occupants. As a rare surviving example of a little altered croft it is of special historic interest for its contribution to understanding life and society in Rackwick Bay during the 18^th-19^th centuries.

Association with people or events of national importance

There is no association with a person or event of national importance.

External Links

Historic Environment Scotland Listing

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