Saviskaill Farm is located in the north-west of Rousay at NGR HY 40049 33507 and stands between the Loch of Wasbister and Saviskaill Bay. Wasbister Road runs through the site.
Building recording was undertaken at the site by the ORCA team and local volunteers in May 2024.
Historical background
The earliest mention of the farm is in a rental document of 1503. Later rental documents and census data tell us that in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Inkster family were tenants at Saviskaill, with the Seatter family from Evie taking over the running of the farm some time before 1851.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, Saviskaill was occupied by Walter Muir, from Sanday, and his family. By 1911, however, they had moved to nearby Breckan farm and Saviskaill was occupied by the Moar family.
Further information about the occupants of Saviskaill can be found at https://rousayremembered.com/saviskaill/
Building survey
The farm buildings form three distinct groups: (A) a cluster of ruinous buildings and an extant barn along the shoreline to the north-east; (B) a range of predominately domestic structures, immediately north of Wasbister Road, with a further dwelling nearby; and (C) the byres and sheds around a central yard to the south of Wasbister Road. We know from the early Ordnance Survey maps that all of the farm buildings were built before 1880 and were still in use in the early twentieth century.
Group (A) The northern cluster of farm buildings are generally ruinous with some being partly damaged by coastal erosion. The group comprises several buildings of similar rectangular form, generally divided into two rooms. One building is still used for storage with the room at its south-east end remaining roofed.
The northernmost building has a square corn-drying kiln at its north end. A former dwelling is situated at the south end of the group, with a fireplace its north-east wall and a few fragments of the flagstone roof remain in-situ at its corners.
Group (B) These four buildings are located on the north side of Wasbister Road and all are dwellings. Three of these form a single range at right-angles to the road with the easternmost being a two-storey structure which appears to have been the main farmhouse.
The remaining dwellings are all single-storey. The historic mapping shows an extension was added to the range sometime after 1902 and prior to the 1970s. This extension appears to have been built for agricultural use rather than as a further dwelling. One interesting feature of this extension is that a shoe last had been inserted into the exterior stonework.
Close to this range is a free-standing structure, which is clearly another dwelling. This is a single-storey structure with fireplaces at both ends of the building.
Group (C) These buildings enclose a courtyard, with the north, west and south ranges forming a continuous structure and the east range being free-standing. The entrances to the courtyard are north and south of the east range. All the buildings are stone-built with the roofs of the north, east and west ranges being flagstone.
Most of the buildings are single storied and appear to have most recently been used as byres, although it is possible that they have been used for a broader range of activities in the past. The south range, which is downslope of the other buildings, has a least two floors and an attic. This was the mill building and the water wheel remains in-situ on the south side. This was powered by water flowing from the Loch of Wasbister into the sea at Nousty Sand. The wheel-pit is still visible, but the mill race is not visible at ground level although it can be seen in ariel views.
The historic OS maps show only the head race running from the loch, so it is likely that the tail race was entirely underground or culverted during the nineteenth century.
This group of buildings possess numerous doors and windows, apertures, fixtures and fittings, along with modifications to their fabric and form, and additional structures which highlight the changing use and form of farm buildings over time as new farming methods and technologies were introduced.
