Trumland House

Trumland was built to replace Westness House for General Sir Frederick W. Trail-Burroughs (1831-1905), who inherited Rousay and Wyre from his grand-uncle George W. Traill. Westness House, circa 1850, was the home of the Traill family on Rousay until 1863. Traill-Burroughs hired architect, David Bryce, in 1870 to build a new, larger family home after Traill-Burrough's marriage to Eliza D’Oyly Geddes on 4 June 1870. Traill-Burroughs and his wife chose a sheltered location for the site of the new house in a small valley through which a burn (stream) flows down to the sea. The new house was constructed between 1872 and 1873. Building costs were originally estimated to be £3,000, but the overall…

Overlooking the sound between Rousay and the island of Wyre, the house is built in the Scottish Jacobean style, with crow-stepped gables and canted windows, made from the local Rousay stone, with fine carved finials and architectural detailing. The house is three stories high with an attic, gable windows and dormers creating a fourth story. The house utilized the first and second stories as the principal living and sleeping quarters for the owners, the majority of the ground floor and attics were made over to management of the house and estate. The first owner's initials, F.W.T.B, and his wife's initial's E.D.G and the date 1873 are carved on a panel above the front door.