Threshing Mill, Scar Steading, Sanday

Threshing Mill, Scar Steading, Sanday

This is an extensive farm complex dating from the late 18th to early 19th century, with later alterations and additions. The buildings form a substantial courtyard arrangement on the island of Sanday.

The main house is a 2-storey building with dormered attic, arranged in a 4-bay L-plan. It is cement-rendered and lined. The south-west principal elevation features a part-glazed door with a rectangular fanlight containing border glazed stained glass, positioned to the left of centre in a bay at ground floor, with a window above at first floor. Each of the remaining bays contains windows at both ground and first floor levels. Three evenly spaced finialled dormer windows break the eaves. A large 3-bay former schoolroom adjoins to the outer right, each bay containing a large window.

The north-east rear elevation is irregularly fenestrated. A single-bay advanced gabled block to the left contains an offset window at ground level with a gablehead stack above. A piended-roofed block extends to the rear of the former schoolroom. To the right stands a crowstepped gabled block set back from the line, featuring a central tall stair window with gablehead stack above, a small ground-floor window to the right, and a non-aligned window at ground and first floor in the right return.

Windows throughout are predominantly 2-pane timber sash and case design, with 8-pane timber sash and case windows to the former schoolroom and various timber-framed windows to the rear. The roof is partially covered with grey slate and partially with traditional stone tiles, with corrugated iron over the former schoolroom. Stone ridges, stone skews, and rubble corniced gablehead stacks are present, together with some polygonal cans. Both cast-iron and uPVC rainwater goods are fitted.

The interior retains timber skirting boards, dado and picture rails, and architraves in most areas. Some decorative cornices remain. Timber panelled doors are throughout, with rectangular fanlights with geometric astragals to hall doors at ground level and a demi-lune fanlight to a hall door at first floor. The entrance hall contains engaged fluted columns supporting a basket arch. A central timber staircase with timber balusters and handrail rises through the house. Cast-iron fire surrounds are present in most rooms. A William Wilson and Company cast-iron toilet exists at first floor. The former schoolroom features timber lining with herring-bone arrangement to the dado and a timber fire surround to the south-east wall.

A large walled garden of rectangular plan, enclosed by high harl-pointed random rubble walling, lies to the north-east of the house.

The south-west range projects north-west from the house. Its south-west principal elevation comprises, from left to right: a 2-storey 3-bay smithy block with windows at each floor in each bay; a lower 2-storey adjoining block with a window set to the left at first floor; a long, low single-storey block with various blocked openings; and a 1½-storey block with a central boarded door and gabled store entrance, with breaking eaves and a small opening set close under the eaves to the left. The former threshing mill complex terminates this range to the outer left, comprising a 2-storey section with a lower central section and irregular openings and additions. A circular-plan rubble base to the remains of a tall cylindrical brick stack adjoins the gable to the right-hand block.

A 1½-storey lectern doocot is disposed at right angles to the mill complex. It has a doorway at ground level to the south-east elevation with flight holes above, and a doorway set high to the south-west elevation. A large lean-to projection extends to the rear north-east elevation.

The 3-bay block adjoining the main house has a corrugated-iron roof. The remaining range is covered with traditional stone tiles. The mill complex is roofed with grey slate and corrugated asbestos, with a stone easing course to the central block. The doocot has a traditional stone tiled roof. All ranges have stone ridges and stone skews.

The interior of the smithy block adjoining the main house contains a trap-door and timber stair to the basement. A brick open furnace with steel hood is positioned to the south-east wall adjoining the house, with a timber frame supporting a very large hand-operated leather and timber bellows. The doocot interior retains stone nest holes lining its walls. The remainder of the interiors were not fully seen in 1998.

The north-west range comprises 2 adjoining single-storey blocks, the higher block adjoining the south-west range at right angles, and the lower block adjoining the north-east range at right angles. This range has corrugated uPVC and asbestos roofs.

The north-east range, which forms the farmyard elevation, comprises 2 blocks flanking the entrance. To the left is a regular 5-bay group with windows in bays 1, 3 and 5 and boarded doors in the remaining bays. To the right is an irregular 8-bay group comprising a taller 1½-storey 4-bay group with a boarded door at first floor offset to the right of centre, a segmental cart-arch to the right, a window at ground in a bay to the left, and a doorway at ground in the outer left bay; and a 4-bay group with a blocked square-headed wide entrance in the central bay, segmental cart-arches (blocked) in the flanking bays, and a boarded door in the outer right bay. The north-east range has fish-scale asbestos tiled roof with stone tiled easing course, whilst the right-hand section of the cart-shed range has a corrugated steel roof and the store block to the left has a grey slate roof, with stone ridges throughout.

Central farmyard ranges comprise single-storey byres disposed north-east to south-west. The northernmost range is of random rubble with pitched roof, symmetrically arranged in 5 bays with a doorway to the taller central bay and 2 widely spaced doorways in each flanking block. This range has a traditional stone tiled roof with corrugated iron to the central section. The later southernmost range is of drystone roughly coursed rubble as a lean-to structure, symmetrically arranged in 5 bays with boarded doors in bays 2 and 4 and blocked windows in the remaining bays, covered with corrugated-iron roof.

A single-storey complex-plan farm cottage of early 19th-century core with later extensions stands to the south-east of the main house. Further mill and cottages lie to the north-west; the remains of Scar windmill to the south are listed separately.