Description

The monument is the remains of a traditional Orkney farmstead, occupied probably from the 18th century to the 1940s. The farmstead comprises two roofless buildings orientated roughly NE-SW and surviving to wall-head height, together with their fixtures and fittings, and associated yards to the N and S. The monument is situated on gradually sloping, improved agricultural land at about 15m above OD, 1km N of the Loch of Harray.

The NE range is a stone-built longhouse, measuring approximately 28m SW-NE by a maximum of 6m transversely. It was originally divided into three main units, comprising a byre at the E end, a kitchen or 'fire-house' in the middle (with remnants of a box-bed in an alcove projecting to the N) and a chamber or 'sellar' at the W end. Other surviving internal features include shelves and ironwork associated with a substantial fireplace. A byre and store-room were added to the W end during the second half of the 19th century, initially as a separate unit and then adjoined to the main building by 1923. The SW range measures approximately 32m NE-SW by 5.5m transversely and is subdivided from E to W into a cart shed, a byre with flagstone stalls on the N elevation, a stall or store, and a horse mill with horse gin to the S. Ordnance Survey maps suggest that the mill and stall are roughly contemporary with the earlier elements of the NE range. The byre and cart shed appear to be later additions. Both ranges are positioned along the SE side of a rectangular field or yard, some 0.3 hectares in area, enclosed by drystone walls; and there is evidence of a smaller yard immediately to the S of the NE range. A small detached concrete military structure immediately S of the longhouse dates probably from World War 2. The monument was first scheduled in 1955, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling specifically excludes the above-ground elements of all post-and-wire fences to allow for their maintenance.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of the origins, form, construction, development and use of rural vernacular buildings and the changes in land-use and agricultural practices that took place in Orkney during the early modern period. The NE range at Nether Benzieclett is a particularly well-preserved example of its type, displaying the characteristic layout of a traditional vernacular Orkney longhouse, with easily traceable later alterations and additions. The form of the buildings is comparable with that of Norse longhouses and farmsteads known in the Northern Isles and across the North Atlantic area. The farmstead retains many of its key characteristics to a marked degree, including its overall layout and many of its internal fixtures and fittings, such as the box-bed alcove. Previous research and survey of Nether Benzieclett has established its origins and development. The likely survival of artefacts and environmental evidence within and around the farm buildings and yards has considerable potential to add to our understanding of the agricultural basis of the farmstead and the lives of its inhabitants. The loss of the monument would diminish our ability to understand the development of agricultural settlement and farming practices, and the form and function of rural vernacular architecture in Orkney and further afield from the Norse period to the 20th century.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS record the site as HY22SE 55.

References

Clouston, J S 1923, 'Old Orkney Houses, I', Proc Orkney Antiq Soc 1, 15.

Fenton, A 1978, The Northern Isles: Orkney and Shetland, Edinburgh, 116-118.

RCAHMS, 1946 The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Twelfth report with an inventory of the ancient monuments of Orkney and Shetland, 3v, Edinburgh, 250, no 675.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland