North Ronaldsay, Verracott

North Ronaldsay, Verracott is a group of 19th-century buildings featuring unique Orcadian construction. This collection includes a long range of residential and farm buildings that developed throughout the 19th century, with a byre range positioned at right angles. Most of the structures, except for the old house, have a maintree roof structure, which is unique to North Ronaldsay, and are covered with overseamed flagstone roofing that shows remnants of a former straw thatch overlay.

The old house dates to the early 19th century and is windowless, having lost its former window to the west. It has a projection to the east that once housed a timber-lined bed neuk, with another bed neuk to the west that is now gone. Originally, it featured a needled, simmens thatched roof, but it is currently roofless.

The farm buildings, built around 1835, are attached to the north of the old house and consist of a square barn. This barn includes a distinctive two-stage, small square kiln located at the southeast corner, serving as the central focus of the group. The barn has threshing doors aligned to the east and west, and an engine house is situated at the northwest corner, backing onto the stable and byre to the north. Additional free-standing byres are located at right angles opposite the old house.

The new house, constructed in the mid-19th century, is connected to the south of the old house. It features a door and window on the east side, as well as windows on the west and to the left of the south gable. The gablehead stack and maintree beam project through the roof.

Inside, part of the interior is subdivided by a box-bed, and there is a wooden lum, which is partially collapsed, on the gable shared with the old house, a very rare feature.

The stable, built in the late 19th century, is attached to the north of the older stable beyond the barn and kiln. It has a door and window on the east side and also has an overseamed flagstone roof. All buildings, except for the old house, are covered with overseamed flagstone roofing.