Description

Late 17th century, with earlier and later 19th century alterations, and mid 20th century alterations. 2-storey, 6-bay near-symmetrical traditional Laird's house with wing projecting N at E end forming L-plan. Harled and cement-rendered and lined walls with cement margins to windows.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: near-symmetrical; regular fenestration in each bay, modern gabled conservatory obscuring 2 bays at ground to left of centre.

W GABLE: single storey porch advanced and offset to right with vertically-boarded timber centred door in S gable. Single window to left at 1st floor in principal gable behind.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: asymmetrical; bipartite and narrow windows at ground floor in bays to right of centre and outer right respectively; single window at 1st floor to right of centre. Modern 2-storey stair wing to left, projecting W and stepping down to single storey and attic garage.

E ELEVATION: 2-bay gable of original house to outer left comprising windows at ground and 1st floor in right bay only; modern stair wing and garage recessed at right.

Timber sash and case windows, 4-pane to house except for plate glass sashes with timber mullion to bipartite window, 2-pane fixed-lights to porch, and modern glazing to N wing. Purple-grey slate roof to pitches of older work and porch. Stugged sandstone ashlar stacks to N and S gables, and centring ridge, all with stone copes and circular cans. Crowstepped skews to W and E gables, lead-covered skew copes flanking central stack.

TERRACE WALL: semicircular rubble dwarf wall fronting principal elevation terminated adjacent to elevation by square piers with pyramidal finials.

GARDEN AND BOUNDARY WALLS, GATES AND GATEPIERS: series of walled enclosures in a combination of harl-pointed and drystone rubble. Square rubble entrance gatepiers with stepped caps and ball finials to W; simple wrought-iron gate. Walled enclosures flanking approach to house, continuous as boundary wall curving N to meet coach house at E. E gates comprising square stugged sandstone piers with stepped caps surmounted by pyramidal finials; 2-leaf vertically-boarded timber gates. 3 walled gardens to NW of house, linked by common entrance gate comprising symmetrical double gateway with brick coping swept up to ball finial at apex.

FORMER COACH HOUSE: 5-bay gabled rectangular former trading booth of harl-pointed rubble aligned between boundary wall and road. Blank walls to S and W, modern door to N gable; symmetrical E elevation with rubble-infilled narrow windows to centre and outer bays, and vertically-boarded timber doors in bays flanking centre. Modern corrugated sheet roof with concrete skew-copes.

STABLE AND BOAT HOUSE: random rubble pair of barns of rhomboid plan, with double gable to road (E). Stable to S with 2-leaf vertically-boarded timber door to E gable, small 4-pane fixed-light offset to left in W gable and vertically-boarded timber door in N re-entrant angle. Stone slab roof with harl-pointed rubble skew-copes.

Roofless (1997) boat house, of shorter length, aligned to N with doorway in E gable. Gate adjoining to N end of E gable comprising square harl-pointed rubble pier with rubble stile adjacent to N.

NOOST AND PIER: drystone rubble U-plan wall enclosing noost at beach to E of coach house; open to E with concrete slip to water, and bounded to N by large concrete-coped rubble pier extending into water and terminated by slipway.

Statement of Interest

Buness was probably a 2-storey 3-bay haa extended by 3 bays to the W in the 18th century. Photographs taken in the first half of the 20th century show the E gable to be obscured by a smart 2-storey 3-bay neo-classical house of 1828, its principal elevation facing E with the old house consequently forming a service wing to the rear. The house was altered again in the later 19th century which included enlarging the windows to their present size and raising the wallhead of the earlier work. The addition of 1828 was demolished around 1950, and the gable repaired to its current crowstepped form with matching treatment given to the W gable. The N wing and conservatory were built in 1994, the latter replacing a small glazed timber porch typical of many domestic buildings in Unst. The terrace wall is a modern copy of that at Uyea Haa (see separate listing). The E gates were removed to their present position around 1909. An upright slab in the grounds commemorates research into gravitational acceleration by Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Biot in 1817.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17853320

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

• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)