Description

Early 19th century core, enlarged, S Baikie, 1872, and T S Peace, 1905. 2-storey house with single storey additions and outbuildings in rambling plan. Tower in re-entrant angle, 1905. Rubble masonry, partially harled, droved ashlar dressings and later concrete mullions and margins. Long and short margins to windows; long and short quoins.

E (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: crowstepped gable end of original house advanced to right; 2 windows (enlarged from original) at ground and smaller window breaking into gablehead above to left; gablehead stack above. Taller, later wing to centre and left, 1872; ball finialled, gabled stone porch at centre at re-entrant angle formed with original house; boarded door in basket-arched doorway; window in left return; window 1st floor above. Bipartite window (1905?) at ground in bay to left; pair of small window under eaves at 1st floor above.

S (GARDEN) ELEVATION: gable end of 1872 wing to right with piend-roofed, 3-light, canted window at ground; window at 1st floor above. 3 bays to left; modern lean-to conservatory to outer left and projecting bipartite window bridging centre and right bay; 3 regularly disposed bipartite windows at 1st floor with gabled and finialled dormerheads bearing heraldic shields.

TOWER: square-plan tower with corbelled parapet and coped dies; windows to upper stage; long and short quoins.

Predominantly 2- and 4-pane timber sash and case windows; some uPVC replacements to S elevation; fixed timber-framed windows to tower. Grey and purple slate roofs; gablet coped skews and console bracketed skewputts to porch to E; mid-point kneelers to skews and ball finial to 1872 gable to S; coped skews elsewhere; stone ridges; rubble corniced stacks; tall cans; predominantly cast-iron rainwater goods.

OUTBUILDINGS: single storey service range to W of house; materials as above; end stacks; grey slate roof. Lean-to, single storey 2-bay workshop (?) to E of house, abutting steading to N. Bipartite window to left; single window to right; tall, coped stack, with lead ram's head at base, dividing bays.

GARDEN WALLS: coped rubble walls with 2 pairs of square-plan gatepiers sited to E and S of house; concrete caps. 3 evenly disposed iron canons to S of garden, (see Notes).

Statement of Interest

B-Group with Holland House Steading, Factors's House and Bothy and the New Church. Holland House was the last house to be occupied by a leading local family, the Traills, who pruchased the island in 1727. Until the 1967 Crofting Reform Act, North Ronaldsay was the last estate-owned island in Orkney. The canons found in the garden were rescued from the wreck of the Crown Prince in 1744. The adjoining gardens are an important focus for bird migration and provide the only sizeable concentration of trees and shrubs on the island.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56615574

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

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)