the shetland haa house

south mainland

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

Sand Lodge
from 17th c.
Used by the Bruce family as a halfway house between their various properties before John Bruce bought the Sandwick estate c.1770. The rear wing is oldest, the house has been added to over the years ending in an Edwardian smoking room. The eaves of the old house have been altered with the unusual use of red brick also used as string courses (also to be seen in estate and mining buildings in the vicinity of the house). Good walled gardens with garden follies. 1789 pedestal sundial in front of the house and a piended roofed doocot.
3½ storey, South wing- original house from 17th c.? in tall narrow Haa form.
E/W block- 18th c.
North wing- 19th c.
House

The Haa, Mousa
late 18th c.
2 storey, 3 bay. Built by the Pypers. Typical small Haa.
Roofless shell

Bigton House
1788
2 storeys and garret, 3 bays, harled L plan, later porch in angle (early 19c.). Typical tall Haa with pronounced garret. Built by John Bruce who had married Clementine Stewart in 1744, his initials (he added Stewart to his name) and the date are above the old entrance. Said to have been an extension to an earlier building.
Farmhouse

Quendale House
c.1800
2 storey plus garret, 3 bays. Typical later Haa. Seat of the Griersons of Quendale, successors to the Sinclairs.
Derelict, roof remains.

Old House of Sumburgh
late 16th c.
Remaining range (South) dates from 1604/5 and was ruinous by c. 1700. 2 storey, 2 rooms on first floor. This building may have been in early Haa form. Built by Robert Stewart who had been granted lordship of the Northern Isles in 1564 and tenanted by William Bruce, an immigrant Fife laird, in 1592. The South range dates from a reoccupation by the Stewarts.
Ruinous walls remain.

Sumburgh Farmhouse
late 17th c.
Probably 18th c.
2½ storey, 3 bays. Double pile with double pitched roof. Typical Haa form can be seen on the front elevation. This was the next home of the Bruces after the Old House of Sumburgh.
Farmhouse

Haa o Stova, Dunrossness
Mentioned on page 103 of Jakobsen's Place Names of Shetland.
(info. Neil Anderson 1996)