Bu (Bow), Old Farmhouse, Flotta, Hoy

Predominantly 19th century farmstead, with some early 20th century alteration and additions. It includes a narrow, single-storey, four-bay farmhouse constructed of local stone with chamfered sandstone dressings and retaining its traditional linear room layout with timber fixtures and fittings including box bed recesses, fireplaces and cupboards. A gabled byre/store adjoins to the rear, with hand-sawn timber joists and a flagstone slab roof covering.

A range of outbuildings extends to the east, stepping up in height slightly, with a further byre with a sheet metal roof covering. A detached barn to the immediate east, has a single doorway to south, a window in the west gable end, and a flagstone slab roof.

There are three further detached barn and byre outbuildings of predominantly flagstone construction that are roofed or partially-roofed. One is located to the east, one to the west, and one to the north of the main range of buildings. The footprints of buildings on these sites are shown on the Ordnance Survey maps of 1880 and 1900.

The two-storey farmhouse addition, constructed in or around 1937 with rear wing and a later flat-roofed porch, adjoining the west gable of the old farmhouse, and the mid- 20th century outbuildings of cinderblock construction, are excluded from the listing.

Historical development

'Bow' is one of two named sites on Robert Gordon's 1640 map of the Orkney Islands. More detailed maps by M. MacKenzie (1750) and T. Clerk (1822) show a property called 'Downabout' on or near the site of the current Bu (Bow) farm.

Because of the uniform character of Orkney stone and long-standing construction methods it can be difficult to date the initial construction of early farm buildings. In this case, the appearance of the buildings suggests a mainly 18th to 19th century date range.

'Bow' (now Bu) Farm is depicted on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey Map (surveyed in 1880) as an L-plan arrangement with a small number of detached outbuildings. It is described in the 1880 Ordnance Survey Name Book as a 'substantial farmhouse and out houses, the property of the Earl of Zetland'. Lawrence Dundas (1844–1929), the 3rd Earl of Zetland owned Burray and Flotta at that time and carried out much farm building and expansion in the southern Orkney islands during the 19th century.

The Bow/Bu site changed hands in the 1920s, after which the west section of the linear range was remodelled to provide a larger, two-storey dwelling house (excluded from the listing).