- Shetland

Issue No 3 | Autumn 2012
THE
SHETLAND
MURDER
MYSTERIES
Ann Cleeves’ celebrated
Shetland Quartet of
crime novels
www.SHETLAND.org
BORN SURVIVOR
Betty Mouat:
The remarkable tale of
a Shetland knitter
ILLUMINATING
THE PAST
Sumburgh Head
Lighthouse Project
PLUS
The Shetland Bus
Shetland Wildlife
A visit from Norway
Abby’s Wish List
Textile Museum
Sports Week 2012
Belmont House
Relaxation in an
exquisite setting
www.SHETLAND.org
Editor: Misa Hay
Sub-edited by Jordan Ogg
Design: Left, www.weareleft.com
Cover image: Belmont House by Mark Sinclair www.phatsheep.co.uk
Contributions and suggestions are more than welcome. Submissions can be made
directly to the Editor by email to misa.hay@promoteshetland.com
Disclaimer: Although Promote Shetland has taken reasonable steps to confirm the
information contained in the magazine at the time of publishing, it cannot guarantee that
the information published is and remains accurate.
The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Promote Shetland.
Events can be subject to change, we recommend you check details before travelling.
Like Shetland on www.facebook.com/promoteshetland
Follow us on Twitter @promoteshetland
Contents
4. Born Survivor: Betty Mouat
Kate Davies on the remarkable tale of a Shetland knitter,
Victorian curiosity and unwilling celebrity
10. Belmont House:
Relaxation in an Exquisite Setting
Shetland offers an excellent selection of places to stay and, as
Alastair Hamilton has been discovering, one of them is quite unique
14. Shetland’s Big Five
Jon Dunn from Shetland Wildlife on the isles’ most popular wildlife draws
17. Illuminating the Past
The buildings at Sumburgh Head Lighthouse are being restored as
part of a £5.4m project to deliver a top visitor attraction and preserve
an iconic Shetland landmark
20. The Shetland Murder Mysteries
Ann Cleeves’ celebrated Shetland Quartet of crime novels will feature in
a BBC adaptation for prime-time TV later this year. Craig Laurenson spoke
with the author to learn more about her life and work
23. A Visit from Norway
Filming, kayaking and dancing - all in a day’s work for
three lucky students from Norway
26. The Shetland Bus
Douglas C. Smith tells the story of the Shetland Bus, a clandestine operation
that helped thousands of Norwegians escape from their Nazi occupiers
30. A treasure of historical and
contemporary textiles
Alastair Hamilton receives the warmest of welcomes at
the Shetland Textile Museum
34. Shetland Wildlife’s Nature Notes
Autumn Gold
Jon Dunn is often asked what brought him to live in Shetland.
While there were many aspects of island life that he found attractive,
what first took him north was the autumn birding
36. Full-blooded, Fully-Committing,
Untamed Adventure
Paul Whitworth from Climb Shetland introduces an increasingly
popular local leisure pursuit
38. Be a Part of Shetland Sports Week 2012
Residents and visitors alike are welcome to take part in
Shetland Sports Week, which is being run for a second time by
Shetland Islands Council’s Sport & Leisure Service
39. Lerwick: A Guide for the Busy and Hungry
Lerwick resident Jordan Ogg shares his tips on how to make
the most of a day in Shetland’s capital
42. Abby’s Shetland wish list
A selection of inspirational contemporary and traditional
hand crafted finds from Shetland
Photograph: Lichen on stone wall, Muness Castle, Unst
Since we last spoke…
We’ve been busy at the peat hill, peats are dried and ready
for taking home, heather is starting to turn purple, skies are
getting more colourful, some of our birds are leaving and
some of the rare migrants are making an appearance for one
of the most stunning parts of the Shetland year… the Autumn.
The Autumn issue of 60 North is here, full of interesting facts,
information and inspiration for those of you who are as crazy
about Shetland as we are.
Kate Davies will take us on an unscheduled sea voyage to
Norway to join the brave and determined Betty Mouat,
Alastair Hamilton will give us a tour of the new Shetland
Textile Museum at the Böd of Gremista and will also take us
to Belmont House to tell the story of the amazing restoration.
Matt Arnold will let us know about the ambitious Sumburgh
Head project, which will culminate in the creation of a world
class visitor attraction and preserved iconic landmark. We
also have an exclusive interview with Ann Cleeves who talks
about the television adaptation of her novel Red Bones and
gives some exciting details about her new planned Shetland
quartet. And if an untamed adventure is what you are after
then you might be interested to find out about climbing in
Shetland, an increasingly popular local leisure pursuit.
And that’s just to begin…
Hope you enjoy!
As we are publishing this Autumn issue
of 60 North, the UK’s most northerly
music, cinema and creative industries
centre opens. Mareel will provide a year
round programme of film, live music,
education and other performance events.
It will be a hub and a focus for the creative
communities, not just in Shetland, but
beyond and a catalyst for the creative
industry sector in Shetland. We are very
excited and wish Mareel all the very best.
www.mareel.org
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
Misa Hay,
Promote Shetland
misa.hay@promoteshetland.com | www.facebook.com/promoteshetland
PS. Autumn is a fantastic time for walking in Shetland, the landscapes are
suffused in hues of red, brown and gold and on a nice day the visibility is just
amazing. So why don’t you take a flask and a packed lunch and set off to explore
a part of Shetland? For some inspiration try www.walkshetland.com.
My favourite is Fethaland Circular. And yours?
www.SHETLAND.org
3
Betty Mouat from Scatness,
Dunrossness, sitting knitting.
Opposite: Betty Mouat
carrying the yarns
Born Survivor: Betty Mouat
Kate Davies on the remarkable tale of a Shetland knitter,
Victorian curiosity and unwilling celebrity
Photography by Shetland Museum and Archives & Kate Davies
B
etty Mouat was an ordinary
Shetlander. A crofter, spinner and
knitter, she worked hard at home
and on the land. Under her hands, the
finest Shetland fleeces were transformed
into even finer two-ply. She knitted lace of
dazzling beauty and complexity. She was
a woman with talented fingers, but in this
she was by no means unusual.
On 7th February, 1886 she was transformed from Betty Mouat of Scatness
into Saint Elizabeth, the Heroine of the
Columbine. Her name was known in
Canada and Australia; poems were written
in her honour; and crowds gathered on
the off-chance of glimpsing “the remarkable
Betty Mouat”. This is the story of the transformation of an ordinary Shetlander into a
global media sensation.
4
On 30th January 1786 the smack The
Columbine set sail from Grutness to
Lerwick. On board were skipper James
Jamieson, two crew, and, below in the
boat’s small cabin, Betty Mouat. She carried
with her forty Shetland lace shawls; the
fruits of women’s winter labours, these
had been knitted by Betty and her neighbours. Betty, aged 60, and respected in such
matters, had been enjoined with the task
of taking them to town to be brokered,
blocked, and dressed.
Even for January, the weather was more
than usually wild and squally when The
Columbine set sail. After covering three
nautical miles, the smack suddenly hit
choppy waters, the boom lurched and the
main sail snapped. As they tried to carry
out repairs, skipper Jamieson and the mate
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were thrown overboard. Clutching the torn
fabric of the sail, the mate struggled back
onto the deck, and, with the other crew
member, launched a small dinghy in an
attempt to rescue their skipper. Rowing
frantically, they saw no sign of Jamieson,
but they did see The Columbine veering
and rolling in the waters, before drifting
further and further away.
Fearing for their lives and realising
they could not reach The Columbine, the
two men made for shore. After a halfhour’s hair-raising journey through the
storm, they landed up at Boddam, where a
small crowd had gathered, having noticed
the smack was in difficulty. But in this
weather, there was nothing anyone could
do. Left to the mercy of the elements, The
Columbine, Betty Mouat and the shawls
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
Above: Fine lace shawl (c.1880) from the collection of the Shetland Museum and Archives. Top Right: Betty Mouat, exposed to the elements on the deck of The Columbine, as imagined
by The Graphic. Bottom Right: Nineteenth-Century Shetland knitters dressing fine lace shawls. Illustration from Frank Barnard, Picturesque Life in Shetland (1890)
were carried out into the North Sea.
Rewards were offered. Rescue boats
were launched from Lerwick, Yell, and
Kirkwall “in the endeavour to save the life of the
poor woman adrift on the ill-fated Columbine.”
In parliament, the M.P for Leith argued
that the admiralty should send fishery
vessels to join the search. Days passed,
with no news. Returning from an aborted
attempt to search for the Columbine, one
captain spoke of the appalling weather
he had had encountered and concluded,
“I cannot think that [The Columbine] is now
afloat anywhere... no one at land could form
any idea how stormy it was.” There was now
little hope, The Shetland News reported,
of rescuing poor Betty Mouat. “Her position”, wrote the editor “is a heart-rending
one. Neither in the supposition that she speedily
found a watery grave, or is still alive drifting
about in the smack, is there anything to take
away from that position its frightfulness.”
On Saturday 6th February William
Gladstone was elected British Prime
Minister for the third time. A day later,
Betty Mouat turned up alive and well on
the Norwegian island of Lepsøy. It is hard to
say which caused the bigger sensation.
Remaining calm and quietly resourceful, Betty Mouat had survived. Clinging
to a rope from the ceiling of the cabin,
she stayed upright while the boat rolled
and tossed about her. Discovering the
6
skipper’s jacket and watch, she warmed
herself with the one and carefully kept
time with the other. Unable to clamber
on deck, she arranged boxes on the floor
of the cabin, and at intervals put her head
out of the hatch, gauging the condition of
the sea, and the position of the stars. Cold
and exhausted, she eked out her meagre
rations - a bottle of milk, a few biscuits over several days. Betty initially assumed
herself to be drifting off the coast of
Bressay (an island close to Lerwick), but
as the days passed, she realised that the
Columbine had travelled much further
away than the islands she knew. Betty
Mouat had, in fact, taken a perilous zigzagging journey three-hundred miles across
the North Sea.
According to The South Australian
Advertiser, in an editorial that appeared
shortly after on Mouat’s safe return:
“It is said that the poet Coleridge drew
from his own brain during sleep the wonderful
imagery that renders The Ancient Mariner one
of the most striking poems of its time. The experiences [of Betty Mouat] would surely supply corresponding material.”
And indeed, Betty’s journey was made
the subject of countless doggerel verses
and sensational articles, and the voyager
herself was transformed from Hudson’s
www.SHETLAND.org
hardy, resourceful Shetlander into a suffering, romantic heroine, all alone on the
wild, wild sea. In James G. Ollason’s poem
A Greeting, for example, Mouat is made to
speak with the “anguish of the derelict”:
Spirit of tempest raging
Ruthless war for ever waging
‘Gainst the wreck, bare hid with foam!
Wilt thou never, never more,
Drift me to my native shore
My rock-bound, far off home?
Will the wave, convulsive, fatal
Far from kin and village natal,
Wrap me in its writhing fold?
A piece covering Mouat’s story then
appeared in William Luson Thomas’s
popular London paper The Graphic. In the
accompanying illustrations, Mouat was
depicted as a younger woman with loose
blonde locks, cowering on deck while
the tempest raged about her. Because of
damage to the cabin ladder, Mouat had
never actually ventured onto the deck of
The Columbine, but clearly the image of a
lone woman exposed to the elements really
appealed to Victorian readers. A piece in
children’s paper The Chatterbox similarly pictured Mouat as a desperate figure,
crouched “on the deck of the smack... could she
stand up against the cold of the wind and the
great waves which washed so constantly over the
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
Above: The coast of Lepsøy, Norway where Betty Mouat finally landed.
Right: On Saturday 6th February William Gladstone was elected British Prime Minister for the third time.
deck?” Chatterbox’s youthful readers were
then cautioned to remember Betty’s terrifying ordeal “when spending their holidays by
the seaside and watching the tiny waves lapping
the yellow sands.”
When reporting her story, newspapers
in London, Canada, Australia, and the
United States invariably described Betty
Mouat as “Scotch” or “a Scotchwoman” - a
moniker which, as a Shetlander, she may
not have necessarily have recognised.
Mouat’s assumed “Scottishness” also leaked
out into several of the poems in which she
appeared. One terrible group of verses, by
an author identifying themselves as “MEM”
imagined Mouat speaking a sort of “braid”
Lowland Scots - a dialect quite different
from her own:
Wae’s me! The skipper ower he fell
Dashed by the flappin’ sail;
The waters plashed his deein knell
And drooned his helpless wail
An day an nicht, an nicht an day
Gaed roon an roon the sky;
Ten times I lost the welcome light
Ten times the mune rode hie.
As well as being assumed by the global
press to be “Scotch” Betty Mouat also became
the focus of assumptions about what it
meant to be a Shetland woman:
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
“She has spent her life in a miserable hut the typical crofters dwelling - a place not fit for
cattle... her home [is] amid the solitude of the
hills where the peat fire burns in the middle of
the mud floor and the smoke makes an uneasy
exit through stray holes in the roof. In this dismal
abode she has maintained a lofty independence
being able to provide her “puckle meal” and “cup
‘o tea” by assiduously knitting Shetland wool
shawls and placing her trust in the Lord.”
One doubts very much whether Betty
Mouat would have described her crofthouse home as either “miserable” or “dismal,”
but this account would no doubt have rung
true to the metropolitan audience of the
London paper in which it appeared, as it
rehearses a very common stereotype of
Shetland women, who in stark contrast to
Victorian ideals of femininity, were seen
as hardy and independent to the point
of being primitive. Like Betty Mouat, the
kishie-carrying knitters who appeared on
picturesque Victorian postcards also fed
(and perhaps continue to feed) this stereotype.
Betty Mouat had been transformed into
a romantic heroine; she had been misrepresented as “Scotch” and pigeonholed as
a Shetland “primitive.” Now the Victorian
press went even further. Discussing the
physical appearance of the “survivor of the
Columbine” newspapers mentioned her
www.SHETLAND.org
stature (low), her complexion (dark) and
the fact that she walked with a limp. This
last became the focus of much conjecture.
In some sources it was said that Betty had
a congenital weakness on one side; elsewhere that she had one leg shorter than
the other. Different papers speculated that
Betty had previously suffered a stroke, and
yet others rehearsed a story that, several
years earlier, while working at the peat, her
leg had been run over by a trap. Old Betty,
it was said, had suffered multiple misfortunes prior to her extraordinary voyage.
She was clearly a survivor - but wait - wasn’t
there something just a little weird about
her consistent ability to survive?
“She is called the witch of Dunrossness owing
to a prevailing superstition that she ‘couldna be
kilt’. Some years ago a cart passed over her foot,
which permanently injured it and made her a
cripple. On one occasion, her head appearing
above the rising ground was taken for a rabbit
and fired into, the shots being still in her head.
Then she was nearly drowned on a previous
occasion. Now she has been drifting about for
nine days in maddening solitude, half drowned,
wholly starved, quenching her thirst by licking
the drops of water condensed on the window
panes, living, and yet dying...”
The idea of Betty-the-witch, just like
the idea of Betty-the-heroine, had its own
7
narrative power. More terrible doggerel followed:
One more strange saving of my frail old life,
Already thrice nigh wrecked-by crushing wheel
By gunshot rashly aimed, and choking force
Of water; yet I lived through all of these,
And in my dark, rude hut among the hills
Dwelt, a poor cripple, but secured from want
By deftly-woven web of gossamer wool,
Such as fine ladies wear; a harmless soul,
Yet named by men the “witch of Dunrossness”
For no weird practising on others lives
But simply for the saving of my own.
Amid so many perils as though I,
Old Elspeth Mouat, knew, and wrought
some charm
On those destroying powers that, day by day
Sweep off the young and strong....
By the spring of 1786, Betty Mouat was
well enough to return home to Shetland,
and finally escaped the curious crowds of
Edinburgh and Leith. But she was still not
free from the attentions of the press. When
a story is in the public eye for long enough,
it becomes easy fodder for political satire,
and Betty Mouat’s was no different. In
Westminster, the recently re-elected Prime
Minister was intent on securing Irish home
rule, and in April set his unpopular bill
before the British parliament. The following, in W.S. Gilbert vein, compared the
voyage of Betty Mouat to the stormy waters
the nation navigated under Gladstone’s
elderly hand:
8
Ah! Ship of the state,
In sorest strait:
Fast bound for the rocks of a suicide fate;
With thy crew divided twixt greed and fear,
And that whisperer sly at thy steersman’s ear:
Good ship of the state,
With thy priceless freight,
Which we all have insured at so heavy a rate;
Some passengers sick in their bunks below,
Are painfully rising, and wanting to know:
If the desperate case of the smack Columbine
Should not after all, be preferred to thine,
And really and truly,
On weighing it duly,
Myself I find,
Very much of their mind;
I mean that I should not pretend to lament
If that grand,
Old Hand,
At the helm,
Of the realm,
With his crew at the tail of him overboard went...
When Betty Mouat arrived in Leith,
merchants competed to acquire the forty
fine-lace shawls she had carried on her
voyage. But Betty refused all offers; apparently concerned to “secure” the shawls for
their makers, the women of Dunrossness.
Apart from one of her own shawls, which
she had blocked and dressed in Edinburgh,
and sold to George Thomas, Vice Admiral
and Sheriff of Shetland, Betty took all the
shawls home with her where, after their
unscheduled trip to Norway, their value
was considerably enhanced for the women
who had knitted them. Because of the
truck system, it was relatively unusual for
any Shetland knitter at this time to receive
fair payment for her labours. However,
after decades of exploitation and investigation, on the year following Mouat’s voyage,
an act was finally passed to abolish truck
on Shetland (though many local merchants
continued to operate the system to their
own advantage).
Back in Edinburgh, meanwhile, Sheriff
Thomas was impressed by Betty’s shawl.
He recognised the value of her skill, but
also the wider value of the publicity she
might bring to the cause of Shetland knitting. He devised a “scheme” to bring Mouat
back to Edinburgh, together with six other
Shetland craftswomen, to appear at The
International Exhibition of Science Art
and Industry. Thomas was keen that the
exhibition should be a showcase of modern
Shetland skills:
www.SHETLAND.org
By the spring
of 1786, Betty Mouat
was well enough to
return home to Shetland,
and finally escaped the
curious crowds of
Edinburgh and Leith
“The Sheriff hopes that the work of the exhibition will not be confined to the usual goods but
will show that the knitters can adapt themselves
to the demands of the times. Thus in Fair Isle
goods embracing jerseys for lawn tennis, knickerbockers, &c &c And in Zetland goods embracing silk thread shawls, window curtains in
cotton thread, traveling waistcoats &c.”
And he insisted that the knitters be
fairly recompensed for their labours:
“Elizabeth Mouat and the knitters are to have
as their own property the proceeds of the sales of
their work subject only to deduction of 5 per cent
by the authorities of the exhibition.”
Research for this piece was conducted
at the Shetland Museum and Archives. My
thanks to the staff for their help.
I have also traced the representation of
Mouat and her story through the archives
of The Scotsman, Gale’s Nineteenth
Century British Library Newspapers and
other publications available through the
Trove digitisation project at the Australian
National Library. The sheer quantity of
terrible verses and essays that her voyage
inspired is, in itself, quite astounding. I
have barely scratched the surface here, for
which I am sure readers are grateful.
Oral recordings held by the Tobar an Dualchais project
reveal that, because of her disabilities, Mouat was still
being spoken of as a witch as late as the 1970s.
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/35589/1
Anyone interested in learning more about the story
of Betty Mouat might begin with the albums of press
cuttings and poems that were carefully collected by
Shetland merchant and polymath, E. S. Tait. Shetland
Archive refs D1/259 and D6/292/15/1/1.
Right: Betty’s home in Scatness is now a böd (a camping
bothy) and you can stay there while visiting Shetland.
http://www.camping-bods.com/index.asp
Left: Edinburgh Exhibition 1886 Parish Not in Shetland
(Zetland and Fair Isle knitters. The Jaw Bone Stand,
Edinburgh International Exhibition, 1886)
Shetland Museum and Archives Photo Library collection
contains over 60,000 images showing all aspects of
Shetland life. http://photos.shetland-museum.org.uk
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
Belmont
House
relaxation in an exquisite setting
By Alastair Hamilton
Photography by Mark Sinclair
S
hetland offers an excellent selection of places to stay but one of
them is quite unique.
Belmont House, on the northernmost
island of Unst, was built in 1775 by Thomas
Mouat of Garth, a local landowner and
businessman. Magnificently set, it overlooks Bluemull Sound, the stretch of water
that separates Unst from Yell. Thanks to
easy ferry connections, it’s perfectly placed
for exploring not only Unst, but the other
northern isles of Yell and Fetlar, not to
mention the north of the Shetland mainland.
The house is a perfectly-proportioned
Georgian mansion, unquestionably the
best example of its kind in Scotland’s
northern and western isles. Mouat was
10
clearly in touch with the style of the times
and constructed a truly beautiful home:
gracious, spacious and flooded with light.
The architectural details and fittings
were of impeccable quality and the house
overlooked a formal garden and, beyond,
land stretching down to the shore. For
many visitors, one of the smaller rooms,
the Venetian writing room, is a particular
favourite. It has wonderful views towards
the coastlines of Unst and Yell.
Just as remarkable as Belmont’s architectural perfection is the fact that it survived intact. Although an extension (now
demolished) was added later on the west
gable, the interior was never altered.
However, it lay empty for many years and,
by the 1970s, there were growing problems
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with water penetration and rot. The
Belmont Trust was established in 1996 with
the aim of carrying out a full restoration.
Today, the house enjoys the highest level of
legal protection, category A Listing, which
means that it is of national importance,
and the garden is also scheduled in the
national inventory.
The project took 15 years and cost £1.2
million. Mike and Gill Finnie, who have
been involved with the restoration from
the outset, told me that raising the money
had been the greatest challenge. ‘It wasn’t
so much that it was difficult’, says Mike, ‘it was
endless. By the end of it, though, we knew how to
fund-raise and we had a lot of success’.
Gill stresses that a crucial part of the
fundraising effort was keeping everyone
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
involved; a lot of work went into preparing
regular newsletters to ensure that funders
and potential funders were kept up to date
with progress. Cash came from a number of
larger organisations but also from individuals, like a farmer from the Lake District
and a man with very distant Unst connections, both of whom contributed quite substantial sums. ‘The biggest benefit was that
Historic Scotland supported us throughout’.
More recently, some money has been
raised by selling daffodil bulbs from the
garden. ‘We made £1,000 the last time we did
that’, says Mike. ‘We packaged them up with
a nice heritage label and they went like hot
cakes at a Christmas sale in the Whiteness and
Weisdale Hall’.
Because of the building’s listed status,
the work had to be carried out to the
highest standards and, for the Trust, it’s
a source of great satisfaction that virtually all of it was done by local craftsmen.
Seven men were employed full time for
five years, at a time when Unst was reeling
from several economic setbacks, in particular the closure of the RAF’s Cold War radar
station at Saxa Vord.
Gill Finnie says: ‘We had excellent
workmen. That’s what made the project. They
were in love with the building as much as we
were.’ The team went well beyond the call
of duty. For example, there was a need for a
bench in the porch for folks’ wellies and, as
Mike says, ‘it just came - one of the team made
it at night, in his own time.’ Two of the men
came in, unasked, to repair some ‘miniscule’ chips in paintwork the night before
the official opening.
The project has helped to build traditional craft skills. The Trust paid for a
month’s work by a specialist lime contractor from north-east Scotland on condition that they trained the local team in
lime work, which meant that the local
men were able to use those skills. But the
12
project unearthed some latent talent, too:
it turned out that one of the local Unst
men in the team had spent some time as a
plasterer working in Georgian Edinburgh,
and knew exactly how to tackle the work at
Belmont.
Wherever possible, the existing detailing, plasterwork, wood panelling and
stonework were simply retained and refurbished. In the few instances where restoration or replacement was needed, the results
precisely reproduce the original. It was possible to match most of the original interior
colours using paint from the Farrow and
Ball range, so that if Thomas Mouat were to
walk into the house today, he’d recognise
his original scheme of decoration.
“sad to say goodbye to
this house with modern
luxuries while seeming
so sympathetic with
traditional life on the
island. It was beautiful,
comfortable and
unforgettable!”
In fact, he would see very few changes,
apart from the conversion of two rooms
into bathrooms.
The furnishings for the restored
Belmont were chosen with great care.
Some had survived and were restored, but
Mike and Gill Finnie selected many items
from the collection of Georgian antiques
held in Edinburgh by the National Trust
for Scotland. Beds and soft furnishings are
mostly contemporary, including woven
wool curtains from Johnstons of Elgin.
Some rooms have fitted wool carpeting
whilst other floors are painted, with rugs
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appropriate to the house. The windows
have working shutters, useful not only for
retaining warmth but also for keeping out
the early morning sun, which in summer
might otherwise wake guests in the wee
small hours. A selection of fine paintings
by artists presently working in Shetland
and Faroe completes a very elegant picture.
So, how has the house been used since
it was restored? Mostly, it serves as a selfcatering holiday home for groups of anything from two to twelve people. However,
it has also been used by musicians requiring space to compose, play and reflect,
and there have been weddings, too. Most
have been local couples, but one wedding
party came all the way from Newcastle
and, according to Gill Finnie, they ‘had a
ball’, attending every community event for
a week. They also used a local hairdresser
and florist and bought all their food
locally.
The Belmont Trust is keen to encourage
guests to use local services. Gill says that
the local shops will happily deliver anything to Belmont and fresh local meat, fish,
vegetables and other essentials can be put
in the fridge, ready for each party’s arrival.
Fresh fish and shell fish can also be sourced
locally and can be delivered to the house.
Jackie Smiles of the Bluemull Development
Company, which manages the house on
behalf of the Belmont Trust, is one of the
team who welcomes guest on arrival. Jackie
points out that, for a larger group, the cost
per person per night can be as low as £25
in high season, which represents excellent
value.
In Jackie’s experience, guests are invariably excited and thrilled to have journeyed
to Britain’s most northerly island and to
find themselves in such an impressive
house. ‘The best reaction comes from the children, who usually just fling their bags down and
run up and down the stairs and into every room
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
over the three floors, usually whooping as they
go along!’
Jackie Smiles and Mike Finnie both
stress that most of Belmont’s visitors actually spend the majority of their stay in
Unst itself. As Mike puts it, ‘they don’t have
a Shetland holiday, they have an Unst holiday’.
Jackie adds that ‘there is so much to do and see
for all the family whether your interest is history,
wildlife, photography, walking, fishing, geology,
archaeology... or just enjoying the peace and
quiet!’
Some visitors are drawn to the house
and to Unst because the National Trust for
Scotland handles the bookings and has
some land on the island. Some day-visitors
have arrived on the Trust’s cruises. Local
people sometimes book Belmont for weekends and the Trust would like to encourage
that, in winter especially, to ensure that
the house is in use.
Party sizes have varied from two to
twelve. ‘Sometimes there are families, other
times we’ve had, for example, two dads with five
kids while their wives had a girly weekend elsewhere’. Mike and Gill recall one group led by
a church minister. ‘It included a former governor-general of Hong Kong and a French nuclear
physicist. The whole trip was organised to a tee.
At almost eleven o clock one night, we found them
out on the front lawn playing croquet with their
G&Ts and whiskies. They were all desperate to get
their pictures taken, because the sun was setting
over Bluemull at about quarter to eleven and
they wanted to be able to prove to their friends
that this was possible!’
People who stay at Belmont go to all
the usual places on the island, including the two National Nature Reserves at
Hermaness and Keen of Hamar, the island’s
beautiful beaches, the local museum and
the Boat Haven. ‘What a lot of them can’t get
over, and aren’t sure about to begin with, is that
they can walk anywhere’, says Gill Finnie.
‘When you say to them that they can roam
everywhere, as long as they shut gates, they don’t
sound very convinced!’
Jackie Smiles says that she’s never yet
met a guest who said they were bored, even
during foggy or rainy weather. ‘The joy of
staying in the luxury of this beautiful house and
curling up with a good book or playing with the
board games we provide is just a treat in itself.
It’s what a break from the norm is all about’. She
adds that another wet-weather diversion is
the excellent local leisure centre, with an
indoor swimming pool.
It seems that a stay at Belmont leaves
guests with some very happy memories. In
the visitors’ book, one reminisced about:
A wet day, warm in Belmont with a gin
and tonic followed by a great dinner. Then
the weather cleared. A calm evening for
a walk along the coast, past the locals, to
Belmont Broch. The impressive ramparts
get great views all round. Walk back via the
loch of Belmont where over 100 long tailed
ducks were displaying noisily and then to
the house for a good port.
Another guest was ‘sad to say goodbye to
this house with modern luxuries while seeming
so sympathetic with traditional life on the
island. It was beautiful, comfortable and unforgettable!’ There are more visitors’ comments
on the Belmont Trust website.
Clearly, the Belmont Trust should be
warmly commended not only for rescuing a fine mansion but also for creating a
real economic asset to the island. So, what
else do the Trustees have in mind by way
of future developments? Mike and Gill
Finnie say that further progress obviously
depends on fundraising, but they hope
one day to convert the central heating to
run from a renewable source, such as a
heat pump, instead of from mains electricity. They’d also love to convert the former
garage into a studio, so that groups of
artists could have painting and drawing
weekends.
BELMONT HOUSE
UNST
“A MAGICAL VENUE FOR HOLIDAYS
AND EVENTS IN A STUNNING
LOCATION”
This superbly restored Georgian house
sleeps up to 12 people in a stylish interior
for self-catering holidays and offers a total
experience for the discriminating guest.
5% off for bookings for 2013 if you make
the booking before 14th Dec 2012
www.belmontunst.co.uk
Visitors to Unst who aren’t staying in
Belmont may be able to see around the
house on one of the days each year when
it is open to the public. Information can
be found in local shops or on the Belmont
Trust’s Facebook page. Occasionally, visits
at other times may be possible by special
arrangement: to enquire, you can email
belmontbookings@btinternet.com or use
the contact form on the Trust’s contact
page. In any event, the walled gardens
to the front of the house are open to the
public at all times and walkers or picnickers are welcome. The forecourt just in
front of the house is for the exclusive use of
guests who are staying.
If a holiday in this stylish, magical place
appeals to you, there are full details on the
Belmont House website. Bookings – which
are handled by the Bluemull Development
Company – can be made there too, and
there’s a calendar showing availability.
The calendars on theses websites show
bookings on a weekly basis, but you can
also contact the Bluemull Development
Company direct to enquire about shorter
or longer stays, or about use of the house
for weddings or other events. However long
your stay, and whatever the occasion, it’s
guaranteed to be a memorable experience.
Contact Belmont House
www.belmontunst.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/pages/
Belmont-House-Unst/ 153079381426454
Email: belmontbookings@btinternet.com
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
www.SHETLAND.org
13
Shetland’s Big Five
Jon Dunn from Shetland Wildlife on the isles’
most popular wildlife draws
Photography By Hugh Harrop
F
or those on safari in Africa, wildlife tour guides refer to the ‘big
five’ species that are especially
desirable to see: lion, African Elephant,
Leopard, Cape Buffalo, and Black or White
Rhinoceros. This set me thinking – what
would Shetland’s ‘big five’ be during a trip
here in mid-to-late summer?
Some species are getting hard to find
by this time of year. Female Red-necked
Phalaropes are long-gone, having migrated
south and left their mates to do the serious
(and secretive) business of incubating eggs
and rearing chicks. The flowering period
for Edmonston’s Chickweed, found only
on Unst, is over by now, so despite its great
rarity and exclusivity, it doesn’t make the
list. And besides, in the spirit of the African
‘big five’, I think all candidates should probably be mammals.
As I thought about the species our
Shetland Wildlife guests always hope
to see, the Shetland ‘big five’ became
clearer: Otter, Mountain Hare, Grey Seal,
Common Seal, and Killer Whale. What was
14
immediately obvious was that this list contains one species that supersedes all the
others. In the space of a day or two, we’d
always hope to enjoy good views of the first
four species, but Killer Whales, or Orcas as
they are sometimes known, are altogether
more difficult to guarantee.
“To experience the
full Shetland ‘big five’
during a short stay
requires enormous good
fortune”
In fact, they simply can’t be guaranteed.
As the entire ocean forms their habitat,
they come and go as they please. We know
there are regular pods that specialise in
feeding on fish; and that in recent years,
different pods have spent weeks in latesummer moving around the coastline.
www.SHETLAND.org
Chance plays a huge part in Killer
Whale sightings in Shetland. One of the
pods filmed for Simon King’s wonderful
Shetland Diaries TV series was found by a
Shetland Wildlife guest when he happened
to look down at the base of the cliffs at
Sumburgh and saw the animals surfacing
far below. Last year I found myself driving
down to Sumburgh airport and noticed
two small, dense flocks of gulls over the
water beside the road. It looked like the
feeding activity I’d associate with recent
kills and, sure enough, when I pulled
over to have a proper look I found a pod of
Killer Whales hunting seals just offshore.
Annoyingly, I had to leave them straight
away (I had a helicopter to catch) but I
phoned the news out and by nightfall hundreds of people had enjoyed watching these
powerful predators work their way along
the south mainland coast.
I tell these stories to illustrate both the
luck needed to see Killer Whales here, and
how much pleasure a sighting can bring.
Each new sighting adds to our collective
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
“Chance plays a
huge part in Killer
Whale sightings in
Shetland”
knowledge of Killer Whale ecology, and
because individual animals are identifiable by their markings and dorsal fin
shapes, we can provide data on their movements to an ever growing database.
To experience the full Shetland ‘big
five’ during a short stay requires enormous
good fortune; but the moment, if and when
it comes, will form a memory that will
stay with you for life. I will unashamedly
finish with one last story: a couple of years
ago, I was fortunate enough to encounter a pod of four Killer Whales hunting
seals just a few metres from the sheltered
western shore of Bressay. They were visible
even from Lerwick’s Victoria Pier, though
I had the good fortune to be aboard the
Seabirds and Seals vessel Dunter III. We
watched them from a respectful distance
for an hour as they methodically checked
every nook and cranny of the coast for
prey. We couldn’t go further beyond the
lea of Bressay, as the sea was wild that day
and not fit for spending any time upon
in our boat. It was clearly not suitable for
hunting seals either, for the Killer Whales
abandoned their hunt and swam directly
towards us. A short distance from our
port side they dived and circled our stationary boat, looking up at us as they did
16
so. Curiosity evidently satisfied, for they
surfaced again on our starboard side and
set off south into the open sea, leaving us
speechless after an amazing close encounter initiated by the animals themselves.
Every time I recall that morning, the
hairs go up on the back of my arms. Seeing
Killer Whales in the wild in British waters
is always special, but that particular
encounter was without compare before
or since. We can’t guarantee you Killer
Whales in Shetland – but your chances of
seeing them with us are better than anywhere else in Britain, and if you do… well,
you’ll never forget it.
To keep up to date with wildlife
news and sightings of Killer Whales
as they happen, follow Shetland Wildlife
on Facebook
www.facebook.com/shetlandwildlife
For more information on dedicated
wildlife holidays in Shetland, visit
www.shetlandwildlife.co.uk
The company has been running wildlife and birding
holidays in Shetland for nearly 20 years and offers weeklong fully guided trips to all corners of Shetland. As well
as offering organised group holidays, Shetland Wildlife
also offers a bespoke guide service for individuals and
small private groups.
Fully bonded with the CAA: ATOL 9151.
www.SHETLAND.org
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
Illuminating
The Past
The buildings at Sumburgh Head Lighthouse are being restored
as part of a £5.4m project to deliver a top visitor attraction
and preserve an iconic Shetland landmark
The Project
When complete, visitors will be able
to discover the fascinating stories behind
the history of the lighthouse, its role in
World War II and the area’s rich natural
heritage. Opening in 2014, the site will
include a brand new multimedia education centre with stunning views from its
floor to ceiling windows. Sumburgh Head
Lighthouse holidays will continue to offer
high quality self-catering visitor accommodation in the former assistant lightkeeper’s
quarters.
The History
Sumburgh Head Lighthouse was
designed by Robert Stevenson, one of the
five generations of famous Stevenson
civil engineers. He was employed by the
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) which
was established in 1786 to create a safer
sea for Scotland’s mariners. Stevenson
assessed Shetland on a visit in 1814 with
the writer Sir Walter Scott. The engineer
decided that Sumburgh Head was the best
location for Shetland’s first lighthouse
and the work was completed in 1821. The
walls at Sumburgh Head Lighthouse were
built double the usual thickness in order
to protect the building from the extreme
elements. Elevated 91 metres above sea
level, the light is visible for up to 23 nautical miles and flashes three times every 30
seconds. Lightkeepers worked and lived
at the lighthouse for 170 years before the
light was automated in 1991. Ownership
of the buildings passed into private hands,
while the NLB retained responsibility
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for the tower. In 1994 the area was designated as an RSPB nature reserve. Then, in
2002, Shetland Amenity Trust purchased
the lighthouse buildings and began offering an accommodation service as part of
Shetland Lighthouse Holidays. The lighthouse is now a Category A listed building.
The Plans
The restoration of the three accommodation blocks, along with the engine room,
smithy and fog horn, will create space for
the site’s interpretation, holiday facilities
and an RSPB office. While there will be
an overview of the technology of the light
itself, the main theme will focus on how
the lighthouse has acted as a guardian that
enabled mariners to navigate the dangerous waters around Sumburgh Head.
17
The Engine Room will mark the start of
the journey. It will revert back to its former
glory to recreate the sights, sounds and
smells of a typical lighthouse engine room.
The work on the former Smithy building
will focus on the daily challenges of life for
the lightkeeper and his family. The restoration will take in the cobbled floor and the
original set of bellows within the hearth.
The Smithy would have been one of the
warmest spaces on the site and the aim is to
recreate this feeling through projections,
flames and fire sounds.
Located over two floors, the Marine Life
Centre will take visitors into another world
as light, sound and visuals create an environment inhabited by a mix of nature from
zooplankton to Minke Whales. The lower
floor will allow visitors to enter an immersive underwater ‘cocoon’ to discover the
rich and productive marine environment
which lies off Sumburgh Head. The themes
of water currents, tides and sunlight will
all be explored while visitors ‘float’ through
the space. Upstairs, the centre will continue to explore the diverse marine environment, which includes top predators
such as Killer Whales and Puffins. Large
screens will link to webcams showing features such as puffin burrows, and there
will be plenty of opportunity to interact
with multi-sensory displays.
The restoration of the two Radar Huts
will highlight the site’s role during World
War II, with a focus on the development
of radar in the UK. A series of information
panels, set in a radiating structure, will
mirror the curve of the light tower. The
interpretation will look at the stories of the
people who worked at the site during the
conflict, and reveal how the lightkeeper
handled the arrival of gun stations, soldiers and equipment to construct air raid
shelters.
RSPB, Scottish National Heritage, Scottish
Rural Development Programme, Shetland
Islands Council, The Wolfson Foundation.
Lead organisation Shetland Amenity Trust
acknowledges these partners and funders
as key players in the preservation and
championing of the natural and cultural
heritage at Sumburgh Head.
Opening in 2014, the
site will include a
brand new multimedia
education centre with
stunning views
Other new features include the former
Muckle Roe Lighthouse which is being
given a new home in the site car park.
The area’s rich Archaeology, which can
be traced back for hundreds of years, will
also be covered, as will the history of the
Foghorn and the Geology of the area.
The project is dependent on funding
from: European Regional Development
Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund, Highlands
& Islands Enterprise, Historic Scotland,
Do you know anyone who has worked or
lived at Sumburgh Head Lighthouse?
The project is looking for photographs
and stories to include in the interpretation about lightkeepers and their
families. Please contact Matt Arnold,
Sumburgh Head Interpretation Manager,
at matt@shetlandamenity.org or
telephone (01595) 694688.
View from new terrace looking South West
Distant view from field looking East towards the Lighthouse buildings
18
Looking up from ground level to the new Education room
www.SHETLAND.org
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
Aerial shot
by Frank Bradford
The Shetland
MURDER
MYSTERIES
Ann Cleeves’ celebrated Shetland Quartet of crime novels will
feature in a BBC adaptation for prime-‐time TV later this year.
Craig Laurenson spoke with the author to learn more
about her life and work.
I know your relationship with Shetland began
some time ago. Tell us about the first time you
came to Shetland.
I first came in 1975. I’d dropped out of university and was offered a job as assistant cook in the
Bird Observatory on Fair Isle. I think they must
have been desperate because I couldn’t cook and
I knew nothing about birds. I arrived on the mail
boat The Good Shepherd feeling very sea sick,
in fact thinking that I was dying, and wondered
what had possessed me to come to such a place.
But I fell in love with the island almost immediately. I returned as cook the following season
and have been visiting Shetland ever since.
20
What inspired you about the place to write
your Shetland Quartet of books?
I write very traditional crime fiction and
Shetland is brilliant for that – there is a small,
enclosed community and people do very much
know each other’s business. The first book
in the series, Raven Black, came about when
my husband and I visited in mid-winter. It
had snowed and we saw ravens, very black
against the white ground. I thought if there
were blood as well that would make a beautiful
visual image.
Continued on page 22
www.SHETLAND.org
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
Having a particular association with Fair
Isle yourself, did you always want to set
one of the books there (as you did with
Blue Lightning)?
I don’t really plan my books very far in
advance. The Shetland Quartet follows the
seasons and the last book was autumn. For
me this means birdwatchers flocking to
Fair Isle in the hope of rare migrants – and
strong westerly gales that mostly keep the
birds away. Blue Lightning was a very easy
book to write. I know Fair Isle so well that I
felt as if I was walking in Jimmy’s footsteps
and seeing the world through his eyes.
For those who have yet to read your books,
would you like to tell us a bit about Jimmy
Perez?
Jimmy Perez is a Fair Islander. Raven
Black is about what it is to be an outsider
and I wanted my central character to be
an outsider too. So Jimmy’s ancestors were
washed ashore from the Armada wreck
El Grand Grifon, he has a Spanish name
and dark hair and olive skin. He describes
himself as ‘emotionally incontinent.’ I
suppose that means that he takes other
people’s troubles to heart.
Is he based on any person or people from
your own life?
No, Jimmy is completely fictional.
Though there are people on Fair Isle who
might disagree…
Have any of your previous jobs, such as
a cook for the Fair Isle Bird Observatory,
helped to influence any aspects of your
writing?
I describe baking scones with some
accuracy in Blue Lightning! Seriously
though, any job which involves meeting
different people is great for a writer – and
all sorts of people came to stay in the observatory hostel. I met my husband there, for
example. Later I became a probation officer
and that gave me an understanding of
the criminal justice system. I worked on
Merseyside – quite different from Shetland.
Now you’ve completed the Shetland
Quartet, do you plan to write any more
books set in Shetland, or using the
character of Jimmy Perez?
Yes, I’m hoping to write another four,
this time with titles based around the elements. Dead Water is finished and will
be published in February. Jimmy Perez is
22
rather different in this book, coincidentally perhaps a little closer to Davy Kane’s
description of him in the BBC TV script. As
usual I’ll be up in Shetland to launch it.
Where do you do your writing? Do you
have a dedicated study or office from
where you work?
I’m at the kitchen table, the warmest
room in the house. My husband works in
the office, which is decidedly more chilly.
Which writers do you admire? Have they
influenced your own writing in any way?
I love crime fiction in translation the Scandinavian writers like Henning
Mankell and Karin Fossum, but also
Andrea Camilleri from Italy and Fred
Vargas from France.
Congratulations on the announcement
of a television adaptation of your novel,
Red Bones! Are you looking forward to
seeing your stories being brought to life
on screen?
Very much. Filming has already started.
I was at the read-through in Glasgow last
week. Douglas Henshall, who plays the
central character, doesn’t look like my idea
of Jimmy Perez, but will be magnificent I
think.
Would you ever consider moving to
Shetland?
It’s probably too late now, but certainly
when our family was young we considered it. My husband was never sure about
the long winter nights but they wouldn’t
have bothered me. Now it’s a great place
for us to visit to enjoy the bleak but beautiful scenery and the natural history.
Shetlanders are amazingly hospitable and I
feel that I’m coming home when I arrive at
Sumburgh or into the ferry terminal.
What advice would you offer to any
budding writers?
Write the kind of books that you would
enjoy reading yourself. There’s no guarantee that you’ll be published or successful –
it was 20 years before I could afford to give
up the day job –so you have to love what
you do. Read a lot. You need to develop an
instinct for the way good stories work. And
be lucky. Luck is just as important in this
business as talent.
Finally, what’s your next writing project?
I’ve finished all the edits on Dead
Water, the new Jimmy Perez book and I’ll
be getting page proofs through soon. Now
I’ve just started a new Vera Stanhope novel.
I like alternating characters; it stops me
getting bored.
How closely does the script follow your
original story?
It’s a fusion between Red Bones and
Raven Black. I hope readers come to the
film with an open mind, because I think
Davy Kane has beautifully captured the
central premise in the book. There’s a lot
about history – the Shetland bus - and families that become fractured.
Do you holiday regularly in Shetland?
Yes, I’m there three or four times a year
to visit friends or for research.
What do you like to do with your spare
time when you’re not writing?
At the moment I don’t have much spare
time! I’m invited to book festivals and
library events and always enjoy meeting
readers, so there’s lots of travelling. And
with six grandchildren and an elderly
mother living locally there are domestic
commitments too. But I always find time
to read and I like walking and swimming,
meeting friends for meals and going to the
pub.
www.SHETLAND.org
Dead Water will be published
in the UK by Pan Macmillan
on 31st January 2013: it is
already available for advance
order from Amazon
(ISBN: 978-0=2307-6017-2).
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
A Visit From Norway
Filming, kayaking and dancing -‐ all in a day’s work
for three lucky students from Norway
S
hetland is not the first destination
that comes to mind when young
Norwegians go abroad to work at a
placement. But thanks to the Leonardo da
Vinci Scholarship, three students from Voss
in Norway - Ingeborg Gjerde, Hege Skjoldli
and Johanne Underdal - got the chance to
experience life on the islands for a whole
month. This is an account of their trip.
We arrived in Shetland on the 29th
of February not knowing what to expect.
Our new home was The Decca in Lerwick,
where we were spoiled by Self Catering
Shetland with our own kitchen and flat
screen TV. We had some good times filled
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
with sugar kicks and laugher. Our king size
beds were to die for, and we were always
looking forward to going to sleep.
“They gave us
what we can only
describe as the
dream job”
Our placement was at Promote
Shetland, where Andy, Deborah and Misa
took really good care of us. On our very
www.SHETLAND.org
first day, they said they wanted us to come
to the office, work, have fun and go home
tired but happy. They gave us what we can
only describe as the dream job. Our assignment was to make a movie they could use
in their work. This let us see things we
wouldn’t have seen otherwise and have
some amazing experiences.
We got to go horse riding, sea kayaking, visit Fair Isle and try out the spa.
Deborah and Misa were pretty much our
guides. They took us to places such as St.
Ninian’s Beach, Sumburgh and Eshaness. In
Sumburgh we got to see our first live flashmob which was quite the experience. In
23
Eshaness the stunning view from the cliffs
took our breath away, literally. They’ve also
showed us where the best cakes and sweets
are being served, along with the best
meals. Ingeborg and Johanne got to try fish
and chips for the first time - they loved it!
Through Promote Shetland we also
met Eliabeth “Liz” Musser and got to work
with her for a few days. She is probably the
most energetic woman we’ve ever met. Liz
taught us much about filming and showed
us a lot of different tricks and techniques.
She also took us to Unst where we filmed
for Channel 5. While we were waiting at
the ferry terminal, we were met by three
hungry and scary geese that ran after
Ingeborg shrieking. Liz tought us a lot, and
even though the days were long and the
work was hard, we enjoyed every moment
of it. When Liz invited us to Fair Isle, we
said yes immediately.
People kept on warning us about the
boat to Fair Isle. They said it was a rough
ride: “In the first half you think you’re going to
die, in the second half you wish you had.” This
didn’t scare us, but in the week we were
planning to leave, the boat was out on a
routine check. So instead we were flying.
The weather was bad when we got to the
airport and we had to wait for several
hours before we could fly out.
In Fair Isle we got really spoiled by
Tommy, Liz and Henry. They served us the
best food, the most delicious cakes and
bread. Tommy took us golfing and Henry
took us rock pooling. The people in Fair
Isle were so kind to us. We got a tour in
the churches and in the museum. When
24
we said we needed to learn a local dance
to take back and show the other students,
people basically dropped whatever they
were doing and showed up to teach us.
Due to the fog, we spent two extra
nights at Auld Haa. On Saturday we learned
how to spin yarn and it was fun to try
something new. Shetland has always had a
close relationship with Norway, but when
we were in Fair Isle, we really got to feel it.
In the museum we found a picture of the
Hardangerbunad, and in the local store we
found Norwegian Brown Cheese.
“During the month, we
got a real taste of what
Shetland has to offer.
Shetlanders have so much
to be proud of”
One of the best things we got to do was
sea kayaking. This turned out to be a wet
and exhausting experience. Ingeborg was
the only one who’d tried kayaking before
and the other two of us were pretty terrified of capsizing. In the beginning we held
onto the paddles so hard that our knuckles
turned white as we paddled like our lives
depended on it. Poor Angus had to try and
guide and control three crazy girls from
Norway! After a while we started to get the
hang of it and managed to relax and enjoy
the view. Shetland is just as amazing from
sea level as from up high on the cliffs. We
www.SHETLAND.org
even got stalked by a curious and not very
photogenic seal.
After a short lunch break, we continued our journey out towards the sea. As we
got closer, the waves got both rougher and
bigger. We really got to test our strength. At
this point we were having too much fun to
be scared, but we were starting to feel the
exhaustion. But these three girls are not
afraid of a challenge and chose a harder
route back. As we got closer to the shore,
we could really feel the four hours work
in our arms. Safely returned without capsizing, we felt like collapsing. As Johanne
was placed in front of the camera to speak,
she was laughing on the edge of crying
from exhaustion. She’d been clutching the
paddles so hard she couldn’t open her fists
for hours. Sea kayaking was quite the experience, and we would love to do it again
sometime.
During the month, we got a real taste
of what Shetland has to offer. Shetlanders
have so much to be proud of. Shetland is
unique and it has something for everyone.
The people we met were very friendly and
service minded. If it wasn’t for the scholarship we would have never have met the
amazing people form Promote Shetland,
Liz and her family or the crazy students
from Maddrim. We wouldn’t have been
able to go see Lise Sinclair’s wonderful
concert or do all of the things we’ve done.
There is not a day without us longing to
come back to you. A month went by too fast
and we wish we could’ve stayed longer. We
fell in love with Shetland, and hope we can
return one day.
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
Norwegian fishing boat
HELAND. She was a
Shetland Bus boat during
the war and is now in
Sunnm/ore Museum.
Right: Lifebelt from
M/K Heland
The Shetland Bus
Douglas C. Smith tells the story of the Shetland Bus,
a clandestine operation that helped thousands of Norwegians
escape from their Nazi occupiers
Photography by Shetland Museum and Archives
T
he Shetland Bus is the name given
to the secret boat traffic across
the North Sea between the west
coast of Norway and Shetland during World
War II. After Nazi Germany invaded Norway
on 9th April 1940, many Norwegians, young
and old, did not want to stay in their occupied homeland. Instead they sought escape
to the west, to freedom and for the chance
to join the Allied forces to fight for the
removal of the Nazi invaders.
Barely a month after the invasion, the
first boats carrying refugees began to
appear on the Shetland coastline, following the routes of their Viking forefathers
from Fair Isle in the south to Unst in the
north. These were all directed to Lerwick
for interrogation by the military authorities and temporary internment in a camp
situated where the Shetland museum car
park now stands. In the early days these
boats arrived in a haphazard manner, disorganised and arranged only when a group
26
attempted to beg, borrow or steal a vessel
for the escape. Those who were fortunate
would include someone with knowledge of
navigation and/or of marine engines, but
many left with no expertise to guide them.
Many reached Shetland successfully but
some sailed off into the unknown, missed
any landfall and disappeared.
this presented a
golden opportunity to
send secret agents
The boats were predominantly brown
and white wooden Norwegian fishing
vessels, measuring between 30 and 40 feet,
the hull designs of which came from a
particular region on the Norwegian coast.
Where a fishing boat were not available,
more desperate means were employed; a
friend of mine who is still alive in southern Norway tried with a compatriot to
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cross the 300 kilometres from Bergen in
a two-man kayak, but was forced to turn
back by when spotted by German aircraft.
They pair escaped later on a fishing boat,
joined the Royal Norwegian Air Force, and
were eventually stationed in Shetland.
Approximately ninety boats came to
Shetland from the Ålesund area, but the
majority, about three hundred, came from
the coast and islands around Bergen.
When the boats reached Lerwick,
some of the skippers wanted to go straight
back to Norway to continue their fishing
careers and rejoin their families before
their absence was noted by the German
authorities. The British Naval Authorities
in Lerwick realised that this presented a
golden opportunity to send secret agents
to the west coast of Norway, where they
could be based on the chain of offshore
islands and report by radio to Home
Station in London. Their reports would
mainly concern German ships carrying
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
1
3
2
men and supplies for the forces in northern Norway, and on the way south carrying iron ore from Narvik, which was vital
for the German war effort. The majority
of fishing boats, however, did not return
and were first sent to Buckie on the Moray
Firth coast of Scotland for repair and maintenance. Only those considered suitable
for the operations being undertaken from
Lerwick were returned to be based here. I
have already mentioned that the designs
of the fishing boats were indicative of the
area from which they originated, and it
was vital that if an operation was planned
in a certain area, a boat belonging to that
area was used to help to avoid detection.
While the refugee traffic continued to
be centred on Lerwick, the secret operations were entering a more structured
phase. Lerwick harbour was a very busy
and important naval base with constant
visits by capital ships, destroyers, and
submarines, particularly during the campaigns in Norway. This was not suitable
for the top-secret operations of the small
Norwegian unit, so, having operated from
Lerwick for about a year, the decision
was taken to move the base to a Lunna,
secluded and remote bay further north
on the east coast of Shetland. Lunna had a
small pier and harbour, plus a good sheltered anchorage, and, most importantly,
28
4
a large mansion house which became
the accommodation for the officers and
men. The unit also became the Norwegian
Independent Unit No.1.
It was not possible to carry out missions on the Norwegian coast during
the summer months because of the long
hours of daylight and the consequent risk
Headquarters had
no idea whether the
mission had succeeded
until the distinctive
“Bung-‐bung” sound
of the single-‐cylinder
engine was heard
of detection by the constant air and sea
patrols by the Germans. Consequently,
the crews of these small vessels had to
endure the fury of the North Sea in winter
before they had to face the risk of arrest,
torture and almost inevitable execution if detected. Having safely reached
their arranged rendezvous, they still did
not know if they were to be met by the
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intended agent or by a Quisling who would
report their presence to the enemy, or
even by members of the dreaded Gestapo
itself. The crews were expressly forbidden to make contact with any member of
their families, even though their landing
place might be within sight of their homes
in Norway, as this could jeopardize the
secrecy of the missions and leave the families exposed to detection and torture.
Lunna was the unit’s headquarters from
the summer of 1941 to mid-summer 1942.
Several missions were undertaken, ranging
from the most southerly point of the west
coast of Norway to well beyond the Arctic
Circle in the north. These northern voyages
could take up to five days in each direction, always, of course, without any radio
contact. Headquarters had no idea whether
the mission had succeeded until the distinctive “Bung-bung” sound of the singlecylinder engine was heard approaching the
tiny harbour.
Two particular missions are worthy of
mention, although neither was successful. In early November 1941, a message was
received that a radio transmitter belong
to a secret agent in Norway was defective. Another agent was waiting to cross
to Shetland and he was supposed take the
radio with him, then travel to London to
file his report. The fishing boat Blia sailed
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
7
5
from Lunna to the island of Bømlo, south
of Bergen, to pick up the agent but there
was a crowd of refugees hiding there who
also wanted to escape. In the end, she sailed
for Lunna at midnight into a storm, with
a total of forty-three persons on board.
Nothing more was ever heard from her,
the greatest single loss of life in the entire
Shetland Bus operation.
The second was the abortive attempt
to attack the German pocket-battleship
Tirpitz - then the most powerful ship in the
world - using two vessels called ‘Chariots’,
which were to all intents and purposes
like torpedoes on which two men sat. Two
of these were attached with shackles to
the bottom of the fishing boat Arthur,
while the Tirpitz was anchored in an arm
of Trondheimsfjord. Having successfully
crossed the North Sea and scrutiny by a
German Guard boat at the entrance to the
fjord, disaster struck the Arthur. Only a
few miles from the target, a violent storm
broke and the sea became so rough that the
shackles broke and the Chariots both sank.
The Arthur’s crew, skippered by the famous
Leif Andreas Larsen, escaped by walking
across the border into Sweden and eventually returned to their unit in Shetland.
Lunna, meanwhile, had no repair facilities and was unpopular with the young
crew-members because of its remoteness.
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
6
1 Shetland Bus boat, BERGHOLM approaching the
liner Bergensfjord at Reykjavik, Iceland
2 Shetland Bus boats Sjølivet and Lygrefjord at the
Malakoff pier, each loaded with 80 mines. These
mines were laid in the Florø area, and the Sjølivet
returned to Lerwick. On the Lygrefjord the crew
had problems with the launching rails for the mines
and they had to be thrown overboard by hand.Then
because of bad weather the Lygrefjord had to lie in
hiding on the Norwegian coast and eventually made
landfall at Wick- a fortnight after leaving Lerwick.
Furthermore, the hamlet was unprotected
against attack should its location be discovered by the enemy. The decision was
therefore taken to move the base to the
village of Scalloway on the west side of
Shetland. Although this would increase
the sailing time to Norway, the village was
defended by a military garrison, and home
to a well established shipyard. There the
Norwegians built their own slipway, still
to be seen to this day, which was visited by
Crown Prince Olav in October 1942.
The winter of 1942/43 proved disastrous as many boats and lives were lost.
The operation could no longer depend on
the aging and slow fishing boats and an
approach was made to the American Navy
for suitable replacement vessels. Three submarine-chasers were handed over to the
Norwegian naval unit and were renamed
Hitra, Hessa and Vigra after three islands
off the Norwegian coast. From then until
the end of the war in Norway on 7th May
1945, these small warships made regular
trips, carrying men and supplies to the
Resistance Movement in Norway without
any loss of men or vessels. This helped convince the German High Command that
an invasion of Norway from Britain was
imminent. In turn, this persuaded the
Germans to maintain an army of 350,000
men in Norway. Had these men not been in
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3 Shetland Bus boat H 120 B JAKK with fourareens
alongside. This boat left Helles/oy on 9th September
1941 with 15 people on board and arrived at Lerwick
the next day.
4 Alfred Langeren (middle), looking out of
wheelhouse (he was later lost on the Gullborg, on
her way back to Shetland on a raid) Man on right is
paymaster of the Shetland Bus
5 Shetland Bus boat, BERGHOLM, carrying ships
officers back to their vessel at Reykjavik, Iceland.
6 & 7 The Shetland Bus display at Scalloway Museum.
Normandy at the time of the “D” Day landings on 6th June 1944, the outcome for the
Allied forces might have been very different.
During the operations to evacuate refugees, no fewer than 3,500 Norwegian men,
women and children reached safety in
Shetland. Their stories are told in the magnificent new Scalloway Museum and on the
memorial in the main street of the village,
which contains the names of the 44crew
members who lost their lives making the
crossings.
Links and Further Reading
Scalloway Museum
Shetland Bus exhibition, a tribute to the resistance
movement which operated between Norway and
Scalloway during World War 2, is one of the main sections
in the museum.
http://scallowaymuseum.org/
http://www.shetlandheritageassociation.com/members/
central-mainland/scalloway-museum
Shetland Bus:
http://shetlopedia.com/The_Shetland_Bus
David Howarth and Kjell Colding,
The Shetland Bus (1951)
Trygve Sorvaag, Shetland Bus:
Faces and Places 60 Years On (2002)
Shetland Bus Friendship Society:
Shetland Bus Memorial - Souvenir Booklet
We Die Alone, David Howarth (1957)
29
A Treasure of Historical and
Contemporary Textiles
Alastair Hamilton receives the warmest of welcomes
at the Shetland Textile Museum
Photography by Alastair Hamilton & Misa Hay
E
ven among people who know very
little of Shetland, the islands’ association with knitwear and extraordinarily fine lacework is world-famous.
Now, thanks to the dedication of a group of
volunteers, Shetland’s wonderful heritage
of textiles can be properly appreciated at
the Shetland Textile Museum.
The need for a museum was realised
by Shetland’s Guild of Spinners, Dyers
and Weavers, formed in 1986. Founder
member, Bess Jamieson, recalls: ‘I used to
think it was very sad that the visitors that
came all asked, “Where’s all this wonderful
knitting that we’ve heard of?” There was very
little exposed to the public. Although the
old Shetland Museum had a very good collection, they did not have the facilities for
displaying it properly’.
The Guild collaborated with the
Shetland Arts Trust, which was raising
funds for the conversion of the old
Weisdale Mill into an art gallery, and
in due course a textile museum was
30
established on the lower floor of the renovated building. By then, the group had
launched an appeal for old items of interest. Bess remembers how, ‘It was quite difficult to explain to people that we didn’t really
mind if it had holes in it! I think they wanted it
to be perfect, because they were always taught to
make things perfectly.’
Our whole aim was to
not let the old methods
and the old patterns
disappear.
The appeal was successful and today
the museum’s collection includes more
than 500 knitted and woven items, some
of which date back to early Victorian times.
There are also around 500 knitting patterns.
Bess told me that, after the museum
was properly established, the Guild’s work
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continued. ‘Our whole aim was to not let the
old methods and the old patterns disappear.
We wanted to rejuvenate them and also get the
next generation interested’. The Guild faced
an uphill task because in many folks’
minds, spinning and knitting were associated with poverty. Bess continued: ‘For a
long time – I think nearly two generations – the
young ones in Shetland were just so scunnered at
the prospect of “going down” to knitting again.’
Bess was referring to memories of the
times when cash was a rare commodity in
Shetland’s economy. Fishermen paid their
rent in fish and, under the hated truck
system, knitters were not paid in money
but instead were forced to exchange their
work for goods – often not the things they
most needed – from the merchant’s shop.
Nevertheless, the Guild attracted many
people and, as Bess puts it, ‘rejuvenated
spinning’. The group met in local halls
throughout Shetland and membership
grew to around 60. However, after ten years
or so, the room occupied by the Guild at
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
the Bonhoga Gallery was needed for other
purposes and, for several years, the collection was stored. Eventually, thanks to the
Shetland Amenity Trust, space was secured
at the Böd of Gremista, a historic house on
Lerwick’s northern waterfront.
When I visited the museum recently,
volunteer guides Barbara Cheyne and Brita
Hövenmark explained that it comprises
four sections. On the ground floor, there’s
a shop that offers a variety of textiles and
items, such as knitting belts. Many visitors
are fascinated by the belts in particular,
while others enjoy choosing an example of
traditional or contemporary work from the
selection on display.
Next door, there’s the weaving room,
almost entirely filled by a magnificent
wooden loom that was gifted by Bess
Jamieson. It was brought from the Scottish
Borders to Shetland around 1926 by the
firm of T & M Adie. When the company’s
knitwear and weaving operations ceased
about sixty years later, it was destined for
the skip, but Bess and her sister rescued,
cleaned and restored it. Bess has just put
it back into working order again, though
when I visited there was still some fine
tuning to do on the shuttle boxes, which
she thinks have warped slightly. The room
also contains samples of tweed made by
Adies, by Bess herself and by Annie Mouat
of Levenwick.
In the display room upstairs, the
32
precious historical exhibits, including
bonnets, jumpers, lace and hosiery, are
safely behind glass, but in one corner I
was able to handle wool in its original
form, and when spun and knitted. Brita
explained that, ‘in a place like this, you can’t
have “hands on” with everything, but in order to
understand wool, you have to feel it. So I think
it’s really good that people can do that.’ The
exhibition in this room is changed each
year, so that more of the collection can be
seen by visitors.
Highlights include
beautiful old lace from
Unst, believed to be the
island where two families
first began Shetland’s
lace knitting.
Highlights include beautiful old lace
from Unst, believed to be the island where
two families first began Shetland’s lace
knitting. The lace, so fine that a shawl can
be pulled through a wedding ring, is legendary. It has also gained fame through
being gifted to many members of the royal
family on special occasions, including coronations and christenings. Edward VIII had
several Shetland pullovers. More recently,
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gifts of Shetland lace were presented
to Queen Sonja of Norway and Camilla,
Duchess of Rothesay when they and Prince
Charles, Duke of Rothesay opened the
Shetland Museum and Archives. Shetland
lace knitters also presented a little scarf
to the Queen Mother for her hundredth
birthday and a gift was made to the Queen
on the occasion of her diamond jubilee.
Members of the royal family have commissioned items from Shetland, as the Queen
did to make a gift to the Empress of Japan.
Bess Jamieson has no doubt that these royal
endorsements have helped make people
aware of Shetland’s heritage and have
increased demand for local textiles.
One corner of the display room is
devoted to the Gunnister Man, a body
found in a peat bog on which many items
of clothing were astonishingly well preserved; replicas have been made and are on
show. A leaflet about the finds, prepared
by the Shetland Museum and Archives,
can be downloaded here: http://www.
shetland-museum.org.uk/downloads/data/
GunnisterMan_Leaflet.pdf (pdf, 4.85mb).
The room also includes a catalogue with
illustrations of everything in the collection, not all of which can be put on display
at the same time. The other exhibits are
stored in the attic above.
The room used for temporary exhibitions will house frequently-changing
displays, either highlighting particular
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
themes in Shetland’s textile heritage or
providing a platform for the many local
designers and makers working in contemporary textiles. When I visited, the temporary exhibition was by Shetland Organics,
a local group that formed in 2001 and
has since become a Community Interest
Company. They’ve been very active in
stimulating interest in producing more
wool from native Shetland sheep, which
have been present in the islands for around
5,000 years.
The visitors’ book
overflows with praise
for the exhibits and the
volunteers who look
after them.
They work with local crofters and
farmers to produce organically grown
and spun wool, backed by certification
from the Soil Association. They have been
experimenting, too, with local organic
dying. The company sells organic wool and
employs outworkers to make a range of
very attractive items from their product.
Visitors need not know anything about
textiles to be in awe of the skill that has
gone into the work on display throughout
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
the museum, though those who are
members of the world-wide family of knitters are especially impressed. The visitors’
book overflows with praise for the exhibits
and the volunteers who look after them.
One admirer wrote: ‘A highlight of my visit
to beautiful Shetland is the pleasure of meeting
such lovely ladies who have been so willing to
share their time and talent with us. Such fun!
Thank you!’ Part of the appeal is the demonstrations given by volunteers who knit,
spin and weave, and are delighted to talk
about their work.
The building that houses the museum
is of considerable historical significance
in itself. The three-storied Böd of Gremista
was, in 1792, the birthplace of one of
Shetland’s most distinguished sons, Arthur
Anderson. Indeed, the house was, for a
time, a museum dedicated to Anderson and
some of the artifacts remain. The display
room retains a box bed typical of his day,
while he surveys the room - which, as
Barbara Cheyne points out, may have been
his birthplace – from his portrait above the
fireplace.
The young Arthur helped with the
family fishing business. Then, after serving
then years in the Royal Navy, Anderson was
discharged in London. In due course he
became a clerk with a shipping company,
later rising up the firm’s ranks to become
co-founder of the Peninsular Steam
Navigation Company. It began by running
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services to Spain but gradually extended its
reach to Australia and the East Asia, adding
‘Oriental’ to its name and thus becoming
P&O, the largest shipping line in the world.
Anderson was P&O’s Chairman but
he also found time to become an MP, representing Orkney and Shetland in the
Liberal cause, and was very active in developing the fishing industry in Shetland.
He endowed Shetland’s principal secondary school, the Anderson High, and the
Widow’s Homes in Lerwick. However, there
is a direct connection with our story, for he
was an enthusiastic promoter of Shetland
knitwear. He made an early royal connection, sending fine lace stockings to Queen
Victoria, which she thereafter ordered by
the dozen.
As the Textile Museum demonstrates,
turning Shetland’s wonderfully fine wool
into lace, knitwear, tweed and hosiery has
been a vital part of Shetland’s economy
and culture down the centuries. It continues to be important today and the interest
in Shetland’s wool is steadily increasing,
helped by events such as Shetland Wool
Week, which takes place this year from 8 to
14 October. The museum will continue to
celebrate the achievements of the past, but
through exhibitions of vibrant new work
and by making the best contemporary
designs available in the shop, it will also
help ensure that Shetland’s rich textile heritage has a firm foundation for the future.
33
Goldcrests sometimes arrive in
their hundreds after crossing the
North Sea from their Scandinavian
breeding grounds. How something
that weighs the same as a 10p
piece can fly such vast distances
beggars belief. Photo by Hugh
Harrop / Shetland Wildlife
Shetland Wildlife’s
Nature Notes
Autumn Gold
Jon Dunn is often asked what brought him to live in Shetland.
While there were many aspects of island life that he found attractive,
what first took him north was the autumn birding.
I
landed at Sumburgh 20 years ago
with only the vaguest idea of how big
Shetland really was and how the logistics of the place worked. In those distant,
pre-internet days, how was I to know that
the planes to Fair Isle departed from an
airstrip some 30 miles north of the main
airport at Sumburgh? Thankfully, and in
no time at all, I’d been offered a lift north
by a kind local birder, who as we drove
north casually asked whether I’d like to see
a Sardinian Warbler.
By the time I sat down to dinner at the
Fair Isle Bird Observatory that evening,
I’d seen my first ever Sardinian Warbler, a
southern European species. I had also been
met at the airstrip by an excited birder
with the news that a rare North American
34
wading bird, a Solitary Sandpiper, had just
been found on the island. To a keen young
birder, eager to see rare birds in Britain but
used to the more usual day-to-day birding
of an inland local patch with no such
exotica, this seemed like a dream come
true.
Much has changed in the years that
have followed, not least my deciding
that, for a host of good reasons of which
Shetland’s wildlife was but one, I would
move permanently here. What hasn’t
changed is my excitement as every year
Shetland’s summer gives way to autumn,
and I find myself watching the weather
forecast with mounting interest, hoping
for those easterly winds that bring the
promise of rare birds from far away.
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I’ve seen so many thrilling birds in
Shetland in past autumns; charismatic
and colourful species like Red-flanked
Bluetail and Siberian Rubythroat; subtle
Buff-bellied Pipits from America and
Pechora Pipits from the east; and then
there’s always the possibility of seeing the
completely unexpected, like the Chestnuteared Bunting that was found in 2004, the
first of it’s kind to be recorded in Western
Europe, let alone Britain.
Easterly winds often mean rare birds,
but westerlies can be good too – North
American thrushes and warblers make it
across the Atlantic to landfall on Shetland.
Wind in the north? Start looking for Arctic
Redpolls, glowing like snowballs amongst
their commoner brethren. You never know
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
Swainson’s Thrush – this diminutive thrush hails from
North America and was discovered on Fetlar – a great
place to find your own birds, as it is so under-watched in
autumn. Photo by Hugh Harrop / Shetland Wildlife
what might be around the corner – expect
the unexpected.
It’s not all about the rarities though –
it’s hard not to be moved by the sight and
sound of thousands of migrant thrushes
pouring out of the sky onto the islands;
by walking through the countryside with
hundreds of Goldcrests scattered like
bright jewels across the vegetation, fences
and even the backs of sheep; or by opening
the curtains on a sunny September
morning to find there are dozens of
Redstarts outside wherever one looks.
Wading birds are on the move too, especially in the early weeks of autumn – and
amidst those flocks of Arctic-breeding
birds heading south for the winter, who
knows what you might find? It could be
a White-rumped Sandpiper from North
America or a Great Knot from Siberia… (Ah,
there I go again thinking about rare birds
- the imminence of autumn in Shetland
does that to you!)
Shetland’s long been famous as a place
to see birds at this time of year, but it’s
only recently that more people are choosing to come here for a week or two every
autumn without fail. Maybe it’s the birds,
or the chance to find your own rarity;
maybe it’s the warm welcome; or the ease
with which Shetland can be reached even
from the south of England. Then again, it
might just be the beer and the ready availability of an excellent curry in Lerwick
after a long day’s birding! But one thing’s
for certain – time spent birding in Shetland
in autumn will always be eventful, and the
very unpredictability of what you might
see only makes the adventure that bit more
exciting.
Top
five
Shetland
Wildlife’s top 5
recommended
sites for autumn
birding:
Sumburgh
The first (and last, depending on your perspective) piece of land in the archipelago, the quarries, crops and bushes in the area traditionally
prove irresistible to birds and birders alike.
Pool of Virkie
Easily checked for migrant wading birds from
the road that skirts the northern side of the pool.
Norwick, Unst
There are lots of good spots on Unst in which to
look for birds, but Norwick is particularly attractive with sheltered nooks, small areas of crops,
and some mature gardens. Be sure to respect
residents’ privacy.
Fetlar
Something of a wild-card, Fetlar has a large list
of some 300 species of bird recorded on the island,
but is extremely under-watched nowadays.
Definitely the place to go to find your own birds
without bumping into many other birdwatchers!
Fair Isle
No list of Shetland birding sites would be
complete without it! Without compare in Europe
as the place to stay and witness migration with
the chance of seeing plenty of scarce and rare
birds.
To keep up to date with wildlife
news and sightings as they happen,
follow Shetland Wildlife on Facebook
www.facebook.com/shetlandwildlife
For more information on dedicated
wildlife holidays in Shetland, visit
Shetland Wildlife:
www.shetlandwildlife.co.uk
The company has been running wildlife and
birding holidays in Shetland for nearly 20
years and offers week-long fully guided trips
to all corners of Shetland. As well as offering
organised group holidays, Shetland Wildlife also
offers a bespoke guide service for individuals
and small private groups. Fully bonded with the
CAA: ATOL 9151.
Left: Red-flanked Bluetail –
Once a real ‘mega-rarity’,
Red-flanked Bluetail is an
almost annual visitor to
Shetland every autumn.
This bird was photographed
at Kergord Plantations.
Photo by Hugh Harrop /
Shetland Wildlife
Far left: Siberian Rubythroat
– this stunning male Siberian
Rubythroat graced Gulberwick
in October 2011. It was only the
eighth-ever to have been seen
in Britain – but the sixth record
for Shetland. As the name
suggests the species breeds in
Siberia. Photo by Hugh Harrop /
Shetland Wildlife
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
www.SHETLAND.org
35
“you feel part of
something timeless and
immeasurable”
C
limbing as a pastime is a fairly new
thing for Shetland when compared
to the rest of the UK. Early pioneers
on the Scottish, English and Welsh mountains and moorland crags can be traced
back to the 1800s, but it wasn’t until the late
19th to early 20th century that rock climbing emerged as an activity in its own right.
Shetland’s sea cliffs and rocky outcrops,
however, were not strangers to visitors in
those early days and even before, for as long
as there have been inhabitants on these
isles there have been climbers. Martin
Martin, the 17th century author of the
book A Description of the Western Islands
of Scotland writes of Shetland:
“The people inhabiting the lesser isles have
abundance of eggs and fowl, which contribute
to maintain their families during the summer.
The common people are generally very dexterous in climbing the rocks in quest of those eggs
and fowl; but this exercise is attended with
very great danger, and sometimes proves fatal
to those that venture too far.” He goes on
to describe how these operations were
carried out, descriptions that make even
the hardiest of modern climbers shudder.
But the modern world we inhabit is all
very different; the eggs are not picked
but protected; the sea birds not caught
but counted. So too for the climber, no
longer climbing to scratch out a living
but climbing for leisure; not climbing for
the avian quarry to sustain a family, but for
the adventure.
It’s not until the 1980s that modern
rock climbing is first documented in
Shetland and even this becomes dominated by visiting climbers rather than
islanders. A local climbing scene only
began to emerge shortly after the new millennium. 2003 Shetland saw the birth of
the local climbing club and the number
of local climbers has grown steadily year
on year. So too has the number of crags
available to climbers. In the 1980s and
Full Blooded, Fully
Committing, Untamed
Adventure
Paul Whitworth from Climb Shetland introduces an
increasingly popular local leisure pursuit
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www.SHETLAND.org
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
90s the more obvious beauty spots such
as the Eshaness lighthouse, Grind of the
Navir and Nibon featured in the first guide
book containing just seven or eight crags
with less than 100 routes between them.
Shetland now has over 40 documented
crags all over the islands with approximately 1000 climbs listed. Development
shows no signs of slowing either with new
routes being added regularly to existing
venues, and new areas being found and
climbed every year. It is one of the last
places in Britain to be developed in this
way. The vast majority of cliffs on the UK
mainland were climbed during the 20th
century, leaving only the harder lines
today for the elite few at the cutting edge
of the sport. Climbers in Shetland enjoy the
privilege of being able to climb new routes
of whatever difficulty they choose, from
the easiest to the hardest of challenges, and
they lack neither quality nor adventure.
So where does Shetland’s climbing fit
in? What does it offer that other places in
Britain don’t? What brought visiting climbers here in the first place and what were
they looking for? The answer is simple full-blooded, fully-committing, untamed
adventure!
Abseiling down remote 50m sea cliffs
with waves pounding below and sea birds
swirling overhead just to get to the route
you want to climb is a full-on sensory
overload – almost overwhelming – but not
out of control. Climbing up on rock that’s
never been touched before, working out
how to move through seemingly holdless
sections of the route and how best to place
your gear to keep safe, requires a measure
of cool-headed composure. It’s a captivating place to be, you feel part of something
timeless and immeasurable, so totally connected to the surrounding environment
that you’re passing through. Seeing otters
and Killer Whales is not uncommon and
occasionally minke whales and porpoises
make an appearance as they too pass below.
And that’s the beauty of it; you become
not an outside observer but an integrated
part of the nature of the islands, a seasonal
visitor to the cliffs and an element of an
awe inspiring landscape.
If you are a climber and want to know
more about climbing in Shetland then
visit www.shetlandclimbing.info. This site
offers up-to-date information on all aspects
of climbing around the isles and a complete
database of all routes and boulder problems.
If climbing sounds like something you’d
like to try then the local climbing club is
a great place to start. Learn the basics of
ropework and technique on an induction
course at the indoor climbing wall and
then progress to one of their introductory
courses.
For more information please visit:
www.climbshetland.co.uk
Be a part of
Shetland Sports
Week 2012
Residents and
visitors alike
are welcome
to take part in
Shetland Sports
Week, which is being
run for a second
time by Shetland
Islands Council’s
Sport & Leisure
Service
F
ollowing the success of last year’s
event, funding has been secured
to inspire people to participate in a
celebration of sport and dance. The aim is
to raise the profile of sport and local sports
clubs in the community, and create new
opportunities for participating, volunteering and coaching.
Starting on Saturday 29th September,
a huge variety of Shetland sports centres
and games halls will be open for the public
to watch demonstrations and take part in
workshops and taster sessions. And the best
part? It’s all free!
The sports represented include netball,
hockey, gymnastics, bowling, badminton, squash, fencing, rugby, volleyball,
38
swimming, weightlifting, football, golf,
clay target shooting, cycling, athletics,
table tennis, trampolining, karate, parkour
and canoeing.
In an effort to fuse Shetland’s musical,
artistic and sporting cultures, this year
will also see the inclusion of a dance programme and a photographic exhibition.
A media production company based in
Shetland and comprised entirely of teenagers will be producing a film for the event.
A disability sports element is also to be
introduced this year to help make Shetland
Sports Week inclusive and accessible for all.
With around 100 activities and sport
sessions being planned around 16 sites,
the task of pulling together around
www.SHETLAND.org
170 volunteers will be a demanding
task. Active Schools coordinator, Louise
Jamieson, has been busy getting ready for
the events:
“We are ready for the challenge!
Building on the success of last year’s
Shetland Sports Week, we aim to provide
even more opportunities for people to try
new activities and get involved. We will
be working closely with our partners and
local sports clubs to create a full program
which we hope will offer something for
everyone throughout the isles.”
The program will be released in
September. In the meantime, take note of
the dates in your diary and come along to
try something new.
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
Lerwick
A guide for the busy and hungry
Lerwick resident Jordan Ogg shares his tips on how to
make the most of a day in Shetland’s capital
mirlin and glisterin on da darkenin watter,
lovelier far as da caald stars up abune,
for every lowe wis da light o hame to someane
whin da light o day wis dune
Da Lights o Lerick fae da Bressa side, Stella
Sutherland
Having been tasked with writing an
article about Lerwick - the town I’ve known
as home for some 30 years - I thought I was
in for an easy ride. Yet, when it came to
putting pen to paper, I found myself covering the same old ground as any other guide
to Shetland’s capital.
So a few days before my deadline I took
off to Fair Isle for a stay-cation of sorts,
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
which I hoped would provide enough distance to see my home town from a new
perspective. Serendipity, it seems, was on
my side; for only a few hours after alighting the plane, I found myself up a cliff at
Buness being asked by a German bird
enthusiast about what he might do when
visiting Lerwick the following day. He was
going to be there for an overnight stay and
wanted to see as much as he could, with
plenty time given over to relaxing after
his weekend of hard trekking around
Fair Isle.
Here then follows a few suggestions that
I shared up the cliff. Each can be experienced in as little as an hour, or combined to
make for a great day out in the town.
www.SHETLAND.org
39
The Lanes
‘Running up the steep hill above the shore in
Lerwick, above the Esplanade and Commercial
Street, are a number of thin lanes as old and full
of secrets as the winding main street itself. Their
names are stories from an earlier era, but stories
lost - Pirate Lane, Navy Lane, Hangcliff Lane timeless links with the past.’
Thin Wealth, Robert Alan Jamieson
So begins an early chapter in the novel
about Shetland’s oil era. The author perfectly captures the sense of history contained within the steep closes and trances
that ripple across the broad side of the
old town. Best seen as a whole from the
harbour, the commonly repeated misconception that trees don’t grow in Shetland is
quickly seen as nonsense when viewing the
summertime bloom that bursts from the
lush gardens nestled between each lane.
These spaces have an important place
in Lerwick’s creative culture: the legendary guitarist Peerie Willie Johnson lived
at Bank Lane; the famous Victorian writer
Haldane Burgess stayed at Queens Lane;
40
and at Reform Lane, John Graham and his
associates produced Scotland’s longest
running literary magazine The New
Shetlander between the years 1956 to 1998.
There may yet be budding writers and
musicians learning their craft behind the
thick walls of the lanes. And if these walls
could speak, some would surely mention
the teenage romances that have sparked in
these dark spaces on many a weekend night
through the years.
Lerwick’s lanes can be experienced in as
little time as half an hour. So go explore the
nooks and crannies, soak up the historic
names, and wonder at the Fuchsias and
Rhododendrons spilling their pink bloom
out over the old stone walls.
Charity Shops
Lerwick has some of the best charity
shops in Scotland - many even outshine the
pricier vintage boutiques of Glasgow’s West
End and Edinburgh’s Grassmarket. The
Cancer Research shop at Harrison Square
is probably the best place for grabbing a
bargain hand-knit Fair Isle sweater or hat,
while the Red Cross shop on Commercial
www.SHETLAND.org
the best place for
grabbing a bargain
hand-‐knit Fair Isle
sweater
Street often has rare editions of Shetland
books for sale at reasonable prices. Indeed,
much can be learned about the diverse
reading habits of Shetlanders from a quick
browse of the book shelves in any of the
towns second hand stores - from metaphysics to astronomy, and fly fishing to baking;
there’s always a good range of literary and
genre fiction on offer too. For an extra
special treat, make sure to visit the Cancer
Research shop during late-summer to pick
up a jar of juicy home-made rhubarb and
ginger jam.
Fish Supper
The town has several options for dining,
but the best and most authentic meal on
offer has to be the good old fish supper.
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
Shetland is ideal
for those who enjoy
a bit of rambling,
and you don’t have
to go far from
Lerwick’s main
street to experience
a walk that boasts
some of the best
views of the town.
60 NORTH | AUTUMN 2012
Tasty, affordable and decadently nutritious, you can pick up a freshly cooked
haddock with crunchy chips from one of
the town’s three chip shops all year round.
If the weather is playing ball, take your
supper down to the Peerie Boat Harbour
and dine al fresco. You’re likely to get an
idea of the seafaring tradition that continues in the town, as members of the Lerwick
Boating Club practice in Bressay Sound, or
perhaps you’ll get chatting to folk from a
visiting yacht, or some Lerwegians out for
an evening stroll. Another fine place to eat
out is at the town’s flower park, located just
behind the Hillhead - itself a feast for the
eyes and nose from May to late-September.
for more than half of the buildings in the
old town. If you need a rest then lounge on
one of the benches that look toward the
south mouth of the harbour, or head uphill
to the site of a World War Two air defense
gun, from where you get a superb view of
the new town and the Clickimin Loch.
Keep an eye out for Seabirds: Gannets are
common, as are Fulmars, and, if you’re
lucky, you might even see the odd Puffin
bobbing about between meals. If rockhopping is your thing, then head past the
Knab golf course (free to use by all) and give
your legs a workout along the rocks at the
Sletts, where there’s also a bonny path with
several benches for when you need a rest.
The Knab/The Sletts
Shetland is ideal for those who enjoy
a bit of rambling, and you don’t have to go
far from Lerwick’s main street to experience a walk that boasts some of the best
views of the town. Just head along the picturesque south end of Commercial Street,
then past Twageos, and you’ll find yourself at the Knab - a rocky outcrop and site
of two former quarries that provided stone
* For more on Lerwick’s modern history, Thomas
Manson’s seminal collection of reportage, Lerwick
During the Last Half-Century (1867 - 1917) is a must.
So too is J.W Irvine’s Lerwick. Both works are published
by the Shetland Times. For fiction, try Robert Alan
Jamieson’s Thin Wealth, published by Polygon, which
gives a vivid picture of life in the town during the peak and
ebb of the oil boom. Each of these books and many more
are available on guest loan from the Shetland Library.
www.SHETLAND.org
41
Abby’s
Shetland
Wish List
1. Best-dressed notebook
in Shetland
I my Fair Isle bunting, designed by Mary
Fraser, purchased at the annual Christmas
Craft Fair (happening this year 9th-11th
November) and currently decorating my
ancient Willow trees! Her Fair Isle notebooks are also divine and the perfect gift
for all ages. Each book is handcrafted using
acid free paper and bound by Mary using
traditional bookbinding methods and
genuine Fair Isle wool. The only problem is which colour notebook to choose?! Price for
small notebook: £12.00, Large: £18.00.
Get Fair Isle happy here
2. Nielanell Crocodile Cape – a
snappy little number for £65!
Looking for Va-va-voom artwear with
attitude? Look no further than Nielanell
– designer of über chic contemporary
knitted textiles for clothing and accessories. My favourite item has to be the crocodile cape – a snappy little number and a
perfect one size fits all. What’s not to like?!
If you do pop over – visit her eclectic studio
in Hoswick – bohemian with a capital B.
http://www.nielanell.com
3. Reasons to read….Knit Real
Shetland (and visit woolly online
heaven at Jamieson & Smith)
This is a must-read must-knit! The intro
is penned by one of my favourite woolly
designers - Kate Davies, Patron of Shetland
Wool Week 2012 and creator of my muchloved hat Sheep Heid (purchase kit online).
Get busy with 15 knitting projects in real
Shetland wool from Jamieson & Smith and
42
Abby’s Shetland Wish List aims to bring you
a selection of inspirational contemporary
and traditional hand crafted finds, items
you won’t find on the high street, something
a little bit different, interspersed with
a story or two and a behind the scenes
glimpse of Shetland’s thriving creative
community. After all, when you go shopping
in Shetland – it’s not just a unique keepsake
you purchase, but an unforgettable memory
too. Priceless.
don’t forget to check out the new Shetland
Heritage yarns too and then there’s those
lush lace scarves and… Oooh goodness,
feeling woolly headed!
Yarn addicts - swoon here and choose either a
digital download: £17.00 or print version: £20.00
4. Paparwark candlestick:
simply stunning
Paparwark’s range of candlesticks,
designed by Cecil Tait, is simply stunning.
The ash candlestick, ingrained with peat,
would look perfect in my lounge, oh yes,
accompanied by a honey scented candle;
the flicker of the flame offering a warm
glow on those long winter nights in front
of the crackling fire, snow falling outside…
Ooops daydreaming again…Ok, Ok, I know,
don’t say the W word just yet, but home is
where the heart is, and it’s where this candlestick should be too (hint, hint, hubby!)
Click here to light up your life for £14.00 only!
5. Burra Bears need a good home
(and lots of hugs!)
The Burra Bear Studio, featured on the
Craft Trail, is a must-visit and great fun.
There are a choice of 3 bears: Burra Bear
(£65.00), Peerie Burra Bear (£55.00) and
naughty Peerie Oolets (£20.00) and each one
is individually named, made from Fair Isle
knitted in Shetland and will arrive with a
letter asking new owners to write back to
BB creator, Wendy - she loves to hear how
the bears are and where they’re holidaying.
If you have an old favourite knit - why not
ask Wendy to transform it into your very
own bespoke bear? Which brings me nicely
to the story of ‘granny’s Burra Bear’.
Click here to read!
http://www.burrabears.co.uk
www.SHETLAND.org
6. Little trendsetters
wear Phatsheep
Set your cute Richter scale to 10 Phatsheep hats and mitts for newborns are
adorable. Designed and created by textile
guru, and co-owner of funky North Rock
Gallery, Suzanne Shearer. Choose from the
jolly boats print in powder blue or fall head
over heels for the pretty in pink seagull
print. Each item is priced at £9.50, is hand
made, 100% organic cotton and sells like 99
ice creams on a sunny day. Get ordering!
http://www.northrockgallery.co.uk/phatsheep
7. Must-have accessory from
Glansin Glass
Take a trip to Unst – the most northerly
inhabited island in the UK and visit Cheryl
at Glansin Glass Studio. Discover beautiful
fused glassware in a myriad of patterns
and colours, be wowed by her new line of
“crackle” glassware - inspired by a workshop with world-renowned glass artist,
Bob Leatherbarrow. I especially love her
range of pendants radiating with vibrant
hues - the perfect accessory for a LBD or
off-duty denim and definitely on my musthave accessory wish list. Get in touch with
Cheryl to see what’s available. The pendants range from £26 on leather cord, to
£32 on sterling silver chain, to £40 on sterling silver chokers.
http://www.glansinglass.co.uk
Happy Browsing!
PS. Don’t forget to enter the monthly
competition, featured in the Promote
Shetland newsletter – a chance to win a
special keepsake! Good luck!
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43
AUTUMN IS A
COLOURFUL TIME
OF THE YEAR
IN SHETLAND.
THE LANDSCAPE IS
SUFFUSED WITH RICH
SHADES OF BRONZE,
BROWNS & REDS AND
THE SKY IS FULL OF RARE
MIGRATING BIRDS.
SUNSETS SLIP FROM
PINK TO GOLD, AND
THE HEATHER TURNS
PURPLE ON THE HILLS.
PERFECT FOR
GETTING RID OF
THE BLUES.
Visit Shetland at any time of year and you’ll be enchanted by
the rugged beauty of the landscape. The place where Scotland
meets Scandinavia and the North Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean.
Whether arriving for the first time or returning you can be sure
of a great welcome. To find out more or to request a FREE copy
of our Shetland Pocket Guide visit www.SHETLAND.org
Like Shetland on www.facebook.com/promoteshetland
Follow us on Twitter @promoteshetland