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Yell, Old Hall Of Brough, Including Walls

Lairds House (17th Century), Museum (19th Century) - (20th Century), War Memorial (20th Century)

Site Name Yell, Old Hall Of Brough, Including Walls

Classification Lairds House (17th Century), Museum (19th Century) - (20th Century), War Memorial (20th Century)

Alternative Name(s) Burravoe; Old Haa Of Brough; Auld Ha' Of Burravoe; Old Haa Musuem; War Memorial Tapestry

Canmore ID 1356

Site Number HU57NW 1

NGR HU 52007 79491

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/1356

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Shetland Islands
  • Parish Yell
  • Former Region Shetland Islands Area
  • Former District Shetland
  • Former County Shetland

Archaeology Notes

HU57NW 1 52007 79491.

(HU 5201 7951) Old Hall of Brough (LB).

OS 6" map, Shetland, 2nd ed., (1900).

A featureless, rectangular harled building, 50' 6" long by 21' 6" broad externally. The gables are crow-stepped and each of the lateral walls has at sometime been strengthened by the addition of two heavy buttresses. The major axis lies N-S.

On the west, until they are interrupted by the roadway, the side walls of the courtyard can still be seen projecting from the gables with which they are in alignment. The surviving length of the south wall includes the original gateway which bears an armorial panel with the date 1672 - presumably that of the completion of the Hall - and the initials 'R.T.' for Robert Tyrie.

RCAHMS 1946, visited 1931.

A 17th century house, still occupied, of no particular significance, as described by the RCAHMS.

Visited by OS (NKB), 11 May 1969.

Activities

Publication Account (1997)

This 17th-century house was built at a point from which all boats attempting to enter the shelter of narrow Burra Voe could be monitored, and the original track to the shore passed through its courtyard. The modern road passes just south of the intact east entrance, but the rest of the courtyard has been demolished. The house has been restored and contains a local history exhibition.

An excellent example of a laird's house, this is a substantial rectangular building with crow stepped gables from which the remains of the courtyard walls project on the south-west side. At some stage it became necessary to strengthen the long walls of the house by adding massive buttresses, which do little to alleviate its stern exterior. The wooden porch is modern. The gateway in the south wall of the courtyard has a rounded arch above which is an armorial panel within a moulded stone surround; it bears the date 1672 and the initials R T for the laird, Robert Tyrie.

In the early 19th century an old trading booth on the shore of Burra Voe was still owned and operated by the family living in the Old Haa, selling goods imported from Scotland.

Robertson's Stores at the pier is a 19th century warehouse, but, along the shore to the south-west, a broad stone-built arch attached to a modern shed is all that survives of the old booth. On the promontory beyond is a large mound covering the remains of a broch and topped with a good example of a skeo for drying fish.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Shetland’, (1997).

Project (February 2014 - July 2014)

A data upgrade project to record war memorials.

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