The house

The house itself, ground floor, first floor and attic floor, is domestic in scale; the original paint colours can still be seen, as can the fine detailing throughout, like the beautiful mouldings in the first floor drawingroom. The kitchen, at the front of the house, looks out over Bluemull Sound to a multitude of islands. Behind it is the “accompting” or business room in which Thomas Mouat, who built the house, did his accounts and carried on his business.

The house is a small Georgian mansion - of perfect proportions. Reduced to a scale appropriate to Shetland the house has all the design features expected of the finest houses of its period. The symmetrical frontage, quadrant walls, advanced pavilions and the formally laid out policies, running down to the sea, are all unique in the Northern Isles. Internally the timber panelling, dentilled cornices, original fixtures and fine door surrounds are of the highest quality. Fortunately for the Trust these all remain in place and although in part decayed they can easily be restored. In front of the house formal walled gardens were laid out, sloping down to shores of Bluemull Sound. These are derelict, but the paths are still there, outlined by daffodils in the spring. In one of them a tennis court was built, about 100 years ago.

Belmont is only one chapter to be seen in this landscape where people have lived for millennia. A Viking farmhouse on the opposite hillside, a Pictish broch on the headland, a mediaeval township above the loch to the north – just some of the antiquities which surround the house, making a mosaic of human living. These, like the house itself, are all scheduled monuments.

Restored, Belmont will be historically unique in the Northern Isles and very special anywhere. The contribution to the built heritage of Scotland will be substantial. The Trust will encourage planned access for the public to the house and a restored garden.

References

Shetland - An Illustrated Architectural Guide
(RIAS Illustrated Architectural Guides to Scotland)
Mike Finnie, Mainstream Publishing, 1990, ISBN 1851583904

Belmont House
Mike Finnie & Alastair Hamilton, in Vernacular Building 20
Scottish Vernacular Buildings Working Group, 1996, ISSN 02673088

The Shetland Haa House, Mike Finnie
This study can be found here.

An Introduction to the Haa Houses of Shetland
Mike Finnie, in Vernacular Building 20
Scottish Vernacular Buildings Working Group, 1996, ISSN 02673088

The Buildings of Scotland: Highlands and Islands
John Gifford, Penguin, 1992, ISBN 014071071X

Shetland
Historic Scotland: Ancient Shetland
Val Turner, BT Batsford, 1998, ISBN 0713480009

Shetland (Exploring Scotland's Heritage)
Ann Ritchie, The Mercat Press, 1996, ISBN 0114952892

Northern Isles: Orkney and Shetland
Alexander Fenton, John Donald, 1978, ISBN 0859760197

Rural Life in Shetland and guidebook to the Croft House Museum
Ian Laurence Tait, Shetland Library, 2000, ISBN 0904562948