the shetland haa house

unst and fetlar

Thumbnail images relate to the Haa they are alongside, please click on these images for a larger view.

Introduction
Lerwick
Central Mainland & Scalloway
South Mainland
West Mainland & Papa Stour
East & North Mainland
Yell
Whalsay, Out Skerries & Bressay
Burra, Trondra, Foula & Fair Isle

Unst

Old House of Lund
18th c.
Doorway from the house late 17c moved to Muness Castle in 1959. (the doorway looks more like c.1750)Built for John Ross, Merchant. Roof removed 1947.
Derelict walls remain in a dangerous condition. The oldest part is to the front (west) with a later, parallel, range to the back. The front block has a deeper plan form than most Haas. The windows are also larger than in other Haas and give the building a curiously insubstantial appearance. Indeed these windows have probably contributed to the poor condition of the walls. The front porch is later and looks early 19th century.

Underhoull
No trace

Voesgrind, Sandwick
Built by Andrew Bruce
Ruins

Clivocast
Built by Gilbert Bruce
No trace (present house built 1830's)

Broomhill, Uyeasound
18th c?
Ruins

Old Haa, Uyeasound
Old building at east side of Uyeasound was called Bruce's Hall. Could this have been Gilbert Bruce's house. Ruins vanished by 1880 when stone reused as fish workers bothy.

Old Haa, Murrister
Crofthouse.
Site of the former Haa. Remains visible until about 1927.

Haa of Uyea
c.1840
Decayed

House of Still
Ruins

Haa of Scarpa, Baltasound

Voesgarth

Cliff

Haa of Hammer
Disappeared at end of last century.

Haa of Houll

Buness
from 17th c.
Plain 2 storey, 6 bays, crowstepped gables
Built for Thomas Edmondstone c.1835? Very plain and the only resemblance to the Haa are the narrow gables. A 19th century wing was blown up in 1955. The Edmondstons claim to be able to trace their lineage back to Norse times.
House, extended to the rear in 1995 by Richard Gibson.

Haa, Brooke Point
Rubble on site remains

Burrafirth

Sandale

Stove

Fetlar

Haa, Urie
early 18th c.
Rubble remains of ground floor only.
Near to the former fishing station of Urie with booth etc. Built by Andrew Bruce of Urie (d.1717). His grandfather was cousin to Laurence Bruce who had built Muness Castle. 'The Haa of Urie has a lower floor with 25 chairs and accommodates a party of gentry better than any Nor(th) Isles House'
'a plain family mansion'

Smithfield
1816
2½ storey, 3 bay. Later porch. Symmetrical flanking outbuildings and walled enclosures. The Haa sits high above a natural harbour with booth. Timbers in the house said to have been from the wreck of a ship. Built 1815 by Gilbert Smith, factor of the Nicolsons estate. GS 1815 on the lintel above the main door. Derelict, roofless, the front wall partly collapsed. The roof removed in the later 19th c. The house appears to have been roofed using Ballachulish slates as fragments are scattered around. The booth may have been roofed in stone slates as fragments of these are scattered around.

Haa of Funzie
1½storey?
Reduced in height? Derelict, roofless. Irregular, small, windows. Connected with the fishing station at Funzie and unlikely to have been a Haa but more likely a böd or fishing station lodge. Mentioned in Alexander Fenton 'The Northern Isles- Orkney and Shetland'- 'The Haa of Funzie already had a slate roof by 1878'.

Haa i North Dale
A low, small house but has the 'Haa' name. North Dale was the home of a long line of Udallers from as early as 1505.
(info. Neil Anderson 1996)