It may have puzzled blog readers than an account of Brough House, which was the ultimate destination of the odyssey to Orkney, was missing from the Orkney travelogue. In fact, there was a bit of a delay in obtaining permission to use photographs of the building so I avoided writing about the building too.
So now, belatedly, I can continue in both sound and vision. :-)
Brough House is a late 18th Century laird's house on Westray, one of the outer Orkney islands. Brough was restored by Mark Fresson from a state of semi-ruination. The works took 3 years and were completed in 2011.
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| Brough House at night |
The image of Brough, above, is a scan of Mark's 2021 Christmas card. Most buildings on Orkney are a single storey, due to the wind which whips over the island. So, a three story building like Brough makes an incredibly audacious statement. Mark says the building emits terrible noises in the wind. The construction is stone around a clay core, which is designed to flex in the wind.
Like many Georgian houses, Brough is just one room deep. The motivation is to impress visitors by the scale of the exterior. This certainly worked for Katherine and myself. :-)
Most of the building has been furnished beautifully as it would have been 200 years ago. And if I can achieve at Balintore even a fraction of what Mark has managed at Brough, then I will be a happy man. The historic ground floor dining room and the salon above are particular triumphs of period style.
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| the first floor salon |
I was particularly envious of the beautiful dark stone floors, which come from Orkney itself. Mark advised the stone could be picked up locally very cheaply - if only I had brought an empty lorry!
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| the dining table - set for 17! |
The evening went with a swing as I have previously documented in the blog. I slept overnight in the loft-space, up the spiral staircase shown. This part of the house is contemporary in style and quite self contained - even equipped with a drawing studio for Mark.
So despite being a historic and listed building, Brough is set-up for comfortable and stylish 21st century living and working. This is an important lesson for us all.
I am a relative of the last people to live at Brough before it was left to fall to bits. What is missing in this blog is the history of the family that originally built and owned it. John and Marry Drever lived in the home up until John's death - and as it was inheritted by a cousin - it was very sad day when Mary and her housekeeper Kitty were "put out". It was then passed on to several other relatives (most died) before it was left to fall to ruin. I am grateful that someone came along and saw the sense of saving this historic home. Just remember that it was someone's home, not just a building.
ReplyDeleteHi Jenn,
Deletethanks for getting in touch and providing this information on the History of Brough House. How wonderful to have this family connection. You are, of course, correct that a building is much more than stones and mortar, but very much the cumulation of souls that have inhabited or worked in the building. When I wrote the article I was writing about my experience there, and knew very little of the history. There is a book on "Brough House" for those that would like to learn more:
https://www.orcadian.co.uk/shop/orkney-life-people-places/1331-brough-an-orkney-island-estate.html
You will have probably spotted in this blog that I am trying to collect information on the history and residents of Balintore Castle. :-)