Scar, Westove

Extensive farm complex comprising 2-storey and dormered attic, 4-bay L-plan house, (later, single storey former schoolroom adjoined to SE) with lower, 2- and single-storey, crowstepped-gabled adjoining range projecting to NW, with terminating threshing mill, accompanying boiler house and chimney; lectern doocot disposed at right angles; further byre/store/cartshed ranges, forming farm courtyard with yard entrance to NE range; parallel ranges of single storey byres/sheds to centre of courtyard; large walled garden to NE of main house, (NW wall forming SE range of farm yard); single storey, complex-plan farm cottage to SE of main house, early 19th century core with later extensions.

A large, self contained farm complex, important for its size and range of facilities. The long SW range includes a threshing mill and boiler house as well as a doocot, which provided an important source of winter meat. The 2-storey block which immediately adjoins the house was possibly a former smithy, the basement containing a very large furnace with hand-operated bellows, still in working order. The late 19th/early 20th century saw a schoolroom added to the south end of the house with a good boarded interior. The farm had been established by the 17th century and took over an entire township (Marwick); it was the seat of the Traills of Westove. The factor, James Scarth, occupied the house before it passed to George Horwood in the later 19th century. (Historic Scotland)

September 1996: SCT receives information from the owner that the farmhouse has been empty since 1994, and on the market since 1991. October 1997: The steading is reported to be in worsening condition, with extensive renovation required. SCT understands that the house has recently been sold separately from the other steading buildings. 1999: Local planners report that no approaches have as yet been made to Orkney Islands Council concerning renovation or conversion.

December 2008: Orkney Council forward recent images of the complex.

May 2010: A member of the public contacts SCT advising the property is understood to have been purchased and possibly under restoration.

18 February 2015: A member of the public advises the property remains At Risk with broken window glazings.

20 July 2020: The property is under offer, through appointed agent Orkney Property Centre, having been marketed for sale at offers in the region of of £40,000.