Boloquoy Mill, Sanday

Boloquoy Mill, Sanday

A late 18th and 19th century farm complex on the west coast of Sanday, comprising a central group of buildings with associated structures spread across the landscape. The farmstead has been in continuous use as a working farm and is notable for retaining its traditional grain mill with functioning machinery and what was the last working threshing machine on Sanday, last known to be operative in 1998.

The Farmhouse

The farmhouse is a two-storey, three-bay rectangular-plan building with dashed render and a purple slate roof with stone ridge, stone skews and corniced chimney stacks on the east and west gables. An advanced gabled porch projects from the south front, and a single-storey addition with a boarded door sits to the east gable. Windows are mostly nine-pane timber sash and case windows with top-hung upper lights. Cast iron rainwater goods predominate. To the south stand drystone rubble garden boundary walls with rubble coping stones and square-plan gatepiers with flagstone caps.

The Byre

Immediately south of the farmhouse, a detached double byre is connected by a flagstone passage or closs. The byre comprises two stalls, each with two-leaf boarded doors. An extra stall was added to the east end. The east gable has rounded corners. A turf-thatched roof survives on the east stall, with remains of a straw-thatched roof on the west stall. Both have a projecting row of flagstones at the top of the wallhead, with remnants of netting, wire mesh and stone slabs (benlin stanes) along the eaves to secure the thatch.

The Barn and Stable Range

A long barn and stable range aligned north to south contains irregularly arranged boarded door openings in its west elevation. The central section, built by 1879, is lower in height and has a flagstone roof, flanked by taller sections built between 1879 and 1901. The north section has a corrugated-iron roof; the south section has graded stone tiles with stone ridges and skews. The northernmost byre contains five double wooden stalls along the east side and nine smaller stalls on the west. The central byre contains seven double stalls along the east wall.

The Grain Mill

The grain mill stands 140 metres west of the farmhouse on the shore at Noust of Boloquoy. It is a two-storey, two-bay rectangular-plan building, with the north part slightly taller and set back on the west side. The east elevation has a central boarded door with a window to the left and a boarded grain loft door above, plus a small window just under the roof eaves in the taller section. The west elevation has a blocked doorway and a small window under the eaves. A large cast-iron, eight-spoke undershot water wheel with timber paddles is fixed to the south gable. The roof is grey slate with a stone ridge and skews. The wheel pit is stone-lined and the lade channel, extending to the east, is concrete-lined. The interior retains a timber gear housing and cast-iron mill machinery on the ground floor. An open timber stair leads to the upper level, which houses a threshing machine.

The Cottages at Little Boloquoy

Two adjoining cottages stand approximately 150 metres east of the farmhouse. The eastern cottage has a single window and door with a purple slate roof. The western cottage has a central door flanked by windows. Both have boarded timber doors and timber-framed windows, with wide chimney stacks on the east and west gables. The western cottage is partially roofless but retains some straw thatch and projecting flagstones at the wallhead. A roofless outshot, formerly a byre, adjoins the west gable of the western cottage. A drystone rubble wall encloses a rectangular garden to the south.

The Byre and Barn Range at Setter

A detached byre and barn range stands approximately 100 metres south of the farmhouse on sloping ground descending westwards towards the sea. It is a long, three-compartment byre, now largely roofless. The north elevation has a flat-arched central opening breaking the eaves and a boarded door to the right, with a small boarded entrance (either a mucking-out hole or winnowing door) to the left, flanked by upright stone slabs. The rear, south elevation, has three rubble-blocked former doorways. Projecting flagstones survive at the wallhead eaves with some remains of straw thatch.

Setting and Landscape

The farm complex sits in an open landscape of regular fields bounded by drystone dykes, with a mill-pond to the south and partially-surviving mill-lade. All buildings are constructed of drystone rubble.

Historical Development

A farmstead has occupied the site of Boloquoy since at least the mid-18th century. Shortly before his death in 1750, sea captain John Fea of Clestran conveyed the lands and houses of Seatter (now Setter) and Boloquoy to another John Fea of Seatter. Although exact construction dates of the current buildings are not known, the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map of 1879 indicates that all buildings were largely in place by that date. The 1879 Ordnance Survey Name Book describes Boloquoy as a "neat farmhouse and steading". Late 19th century changes included extensions to the barn and stable range, remodelling of the farmhouse and the addition of the easternmost cottage at Little Boloquoy (documented on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey, revised 1901). Comparison between the 1901 Ordnance Survey map and the present arrangement suggests very little alteration to the farm complex since that date. Boloquoy continued in use as a working farm into the early 21st century.