Easthouse Crofthouse including barn, Duncansclate, West Burra

Easthouse Crofthouse including barn, Duncansclate, West Burra

A mid-19th and early 20th century Shetland croft complex comprising crofthouses, barn, byre, pigsty and henhouse. The buildings were repaired and restored in 2003 using traditional materials and Shetland vernacular construction methods where possible, by Malcolmson Architects of Scalloway for use as the premises of the Burra History Group and as a local heritage centre. All the buildings are low, narrow and roughly rectangular in plan. They are built in rubble stone and painted and have vertically-boarded timber doors.

On the east side of the croft is a three-bay house, possibly dating from the mid-19th century, with a turf and straw thatched roof with netting and weight-stones (linkstanes). Two thatched chimney stacks sit on the ridge. A cast iron skylight (gligg) is located just above the eaves. The near-central doorway is flanked by four-pane timber-framed fixed-light windows set close to the eaves.

Adjoining the rear of the house and running parallel to it is a smaller back house built around 1913 with a tarred felt roof. Immediately adjacent to the west wall of the back house is a detached former barn with a corrugated metal roof and roof lights.

To the north is a detached two-bay former byre, probably early 20th century, with a thatched roof. The former byre has a thatched former pigsty adjoining the east gable and a lean-to henhouse with a corrugated metal roof adjoining the west gable.

The restored crofthouse, byre and adjoining pigsty have thatched roofs. The interiors, as seen in 2017, have been largely remodelled for use as a heritage centre. The house retains an open fireplace at the south end and a timber-lined box flue within the roof space at the north end. The roof structure has been lined with pine boards. There are exposed sections where the twisted rope or simmens securing the thatch against the rafters are visible.

To the south is an early 20th century, near-symmetrical, single storey three-bay unroofed cottage and a mid-19th century single storey, roughly rectangular-plan unroofed cottage immediately to the west. The 20th century cottage has a cement-rendered gabled porch with a vertically-boarded timber door flanked by narrow sidelights and a fanlight in the gablehead. Four-pane timber sash and case windows, with no glazing, flank this entrance. The rear elevation has a lean-to addition. Rendered and coped chimney stacks sit on each gable. Attached to the east of the 20th century cottage are the remains of two rubble walls in front of an outbuilding, which has rubble walls and a mono-pitched roof.

Historical Development

Easthouse is shown at Duncansclett on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1877. Duncansclett is described in the Ordnance Survey Name Book from 1878 as consisting of a few small farm houses with gardens attached and was the property of Ms Scott of Scalloway.

The exact date of the croft buildings that survive here is not known. On the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map, Easthouse is shown as three adjoining rectangular-plan ranges, orientated north to south, in the location of the crofthouse, the back house and the barn. A separate smaller outbuilding to the north is shown in the location of the current pigsty.

On the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1901, the footprint of the central range is slightly shorter whereas the easternmost range appears to have increased in size. Information from the Burra Heritage Society indicates that the back house was built around 1913, but it may have used fabric from the previous building in this location.

The unroofed cottage immediately to the south and its attached outbuildings are not shown on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map. There are a variety of buildings in this location shown on the 1st and 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey maps. The previous listed building record, written in 1997, dates this cottage to the early 20th century, but it may have reused or incorporated fabric from the early buildings on this site.

Photographs from the early 1970s show that the general appearance of most of the buildings has not altered significantly. The south cottage is shown with a tarred, pitched roof. The adjoining wall to the east of the cottage has a gable head but there is no roof, described in the listed building record as a ruinous wing enclosing a yard. This is roughly in the location of a long, rectangular-plan building running south to north shown on the 1st and 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey maps. These walls are likely to be the remains of an earlier building.

The unroofed cottage immediately to the west of this cottage is shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map in largely the same footprint as it exists today.

The buildings were vacated in the 1980s. The Burra History Group, formed in 1996, began renovating the stone cottage as their premises and heritage centre. The work, carried out in 2003 and featured on the BBC television programme Restoration, focused on the evolution of the croft during its working lifespan rather than recreating the buildings as they would have been in the earlier 19th century.