Threshing Barn, Glen, Rackwick, Stromness and South Isles, Orkney Islands

Description

Two parallel rectangular-plan, single-storey, rubble-built threshing barns of mid-19^th century construction, located to the immediate west of Glen (house and former farmstead), Rackwick, Hoy, Orkney.

The slightly larger barn to the south has a small opening (winnowing door) set at the ground level to the south elevation. The north elevation has a doorway with a boarded timber door. The roof is heather thatched with a turf under-lay and is secured with wire and weight-stones. There are projecting flagstones at the wallhead eaves.

The smaller barn to the north is of similar construction. Its former turf and heather over flagstone roof covering was replaced with metal sheeting in 2016. The flagstones are propped against the side of the building. The doorway is in the south side, facing the door of the larger barn.

There is a flagstone-floored closs (narrow passage) between the two barns. The interior of the larger barn (seen 2019) is a single space containing a 19^th or early 20^th century threshing machine of timber construction.

Statement of Interest

The threshing barns at Glen, Rackwick meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:

They form a representative example of a pair of parallel threshing barns of 19^th century date that are little-altered in plan form and design, and which demonstrate building techniques typical of Orkney.

The buildings are prominent within an important wider group of surviving vernacular buildings at Rackwick, Hoy.

The larger barn is one of very few buildings known to have a heather-thatched roof and among a small number of thatched buildings generally, across Scotland.

The two parallel barns and associated threshing machine contribute to our understanding of agricultural life and the community in Rackwick Bay during the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Historical development

The first documentary reference to a township at Rackwick is in Lord Henry Sinclair's Rental of 1492. The earliest identified inhabitants settled there following a shipwreck in 1679 (Rendall, 2006). Most of the earliest dwellings that currently survive in Rackwick were probably first built around 1800 to support a small fishing and farming community. This community grew during the 19^th century but dwindled by the mid- 20^th century (see Social Historical Interest).

Glen is one of a number of small crofts at Rackwick. Although the threshing barns are not shown on the 1^st edition Ordnance Survey map of 1880, their rubble construction and shallow roof pitch are suggestive of a mid-19^th century date.

The footprint of the two associated barn buildings and closs appear on the 2^nd Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1900) in association with another building and enclosures, located to the east of the school. The scale of the map is such that the barns are shown as one continuous building (without the narrow closs passageway separating the two closely-knit parallel structures). The form and exterior character of the two barn buildings has altered little since 1900.

Other buildings at Glen, to the east of the threshing barns, were constructed during the 20^th century.

Architectural interest

Design

The small threshing barns at Glen largely retain their simple functional plan form, with minimal openings, and traditional, locally sourced building materials. The heather and turf thatch is a traditional form of roof covering for this building type, and its survival on the southern barn adds to the special design interest.

There is a narrow flagstone-floored closs, or passageway, between the two threshing barns. The arrangement of the two buildings, this passage and the doors of the two buildings facing each other on opposite sides, and the relative position of the small opening on the south side of the building, would create the cross draught for winnowing (removing chaff from wheat or corn). The survival of this closely-knit arrangement of parallel barns is of interest because it demonstrates a building tradition characteristic of Orkney farms.

The 19^th century hand-operated threshing machine inside the threshing barn adds to the special design interest of the building as it relates directly to the original function of the building.

Setting

The threshing barns at Glen are part of a 19^th–20^th century farmstead that includes a house and other agricultural buildings and enclosures, set within the remote coastal settlement of Rackwick on the island of Hoy, Orkney.

The location of crofting and fishing communities can provide valuable information about changing settlement patterns and land-use. Rackwick is a coastal valley and settlement 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. The coastal setting is largely unaltered and contributes to the setting of these and other listed buildings at Rackwick (see below).

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 threshing barns at Glen are prominent within an important wider group of surviving vernacular buildings at Rackwick, Hoy. They are located on the roadside opposite the former school of 1879 (now a small hostel), and near the earlier restored 'Old School House' and a red telephone kiosk. The threshing barns are also near the listed thatched cottages known as the Crow's Nest (LB52548) and The Mount (LB46377). The Crow's Nest and Old School House are conserved and open to the public as part of a local museum group containing information about the history of Rackwick and its occupants. There is also a small 20^th century cottage known as 'Glen House' which houses the Rackwick archive.

Collectively, these buildings show traditional vernacular methods of construction over at least a two-hundred-year period and contribute considerably to the built heritage and historic character of the settlement at Rackwick.

Historic interest

Age and rarity

Rectangular-plan, stone-built threshing barns of 19^th century date are not a rare building type in Scotland. However, the threshing barns at Glen, Rackwick have special interest for the survival of the a closs, a heather thatched roof covering (southern barn), and the remains of a 19^th or early 20^th century timber threshing machine. Pre-agricultural improvement period buildings that largely retain their traditional character are now rare in Orkney.

The survival of thatch-roofed buildings is also rare. The use of heather and turf as a roofing material has a long tradition in Scotland but is now exceptionally rare in the Orkney Islands (2021). Rackwick Bay is understood to contain the highest concentration of thatch-roofed buildings in Orkney, including Crow's Nest (LB52548), The Mount (LB46377), Burnmouth Bothy (LB46375) and Muckle House (LB46376).

Social historical interest

Rackwick is a farming and fishing settlement on the largely uninhabited west coast of the island 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. Most of the earliest dwellings that survive at Rackwick were probably first constructed around 1800. 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) was the sole remaining 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 fishing, livestock, seasonal crop management and the need for shelter changed little in Orkney for many hundreds of years. Orkney retained many Norse-influenced farming traditions and building methods well into the 19th century.

The evolution of farming in Orkney during the 19th century depended on the means of principal land holders and the rate at which they adopted improved agricultural methods. 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 altered by a wide range of factors. These included improved transport and communication links, changes in agricultural legislation, and the importing of building materials from mainland Scotland. Many pre-1900 crofthouses were either rebuilt, substantially reworked or abandoned by 1960.

As a surviving example of a heather-thatched threshing barn with surviving threshing machine, the building is of special historic interest for its contribution to understanding agricultural life in Rackwick Bay during the 19^th and 20^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

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.