Photos and the City

Category: Sotland

  • Saturday in Lerwick

    A walk on Saturday morning along the coastline of Lerwick in Shetland.

    I left my car parked near Loch Clickimin and walked along the coastline to the city centre of Lerwick. Today Lerwick is the capital and biggest city of Shetland, but until 1830 Scalloway used to be the capital and sheep used to graze the land that is today’s Lerwick.

    A walk on Saturday morning along the coastline of Lerwick in Shetland.

    The name Lerwick comes from the Old Norse word “Leirvik”, meaning muddy or clay bay. In 1625 the back then small settlement of Lerwick was burnt down after an edict from Scalloway, because

    of the lawlessness seen in the area, including, drunkenness, theft, prostitution, assault and murder… (Northlinkferries.com)

    A walk on Saturday morning along the coastline of Lerwick in Shetland.

    The town was built on smuggling (like many other places in Shetland). Danish fishermen started to arrive from the 1600is in the summertime for the summer herring fishery. Locals started to trade them fresh goods, wool and other goods.

    In exchange, brandy, gin and tobacco were bartered and smuggled ashore in a series of underground tunnels that ran the length of Commercial Street. As a result, small trading booths sprang up along the shore for both legal, and illegal trade. (Northlinkferries.com)

    A walk on Saturday morning along the coastline of Lerwick in Shetland.

    A walk on Saturday morning along the coastline of Lerwick in Shetland.A walk on Saturday morning along the coastline of Lerwick in Shetland.

    The Lodberrie – the home of the fictional Detective Jimmy Perez from the TV show “Shetland”. But this house is also connected to the smuggling trades.

    This building, dating to about 1772 was one of 21 lodberries that lined the foreshore in Lerwick by 1814. The word lodberry comes from the Old Norse hladberg and means ‘a landing place, or a landing stone’ and describes the type of use these utilitarian – yet beautiful – buildings were designed for. (Northlinkferries.com)

    These houses used to be trading booths, their foundation built in the sea, boats were offloaded, legal goods sold right there on the streets and the illegal goods were taken in the tunnels under the town.

    A walk on Saturday morning along the coastline of Lerwick in Shetland.

    No one planned the old town it just grew organically until the Victorias tried to get some order into the maze of alleys and close. They also laid out a new town with spacious villas and public parks beyond the Hillhead.

    A walk on Saturday morning along the coastline of Lerwick in Shetland.A walk on Saturday morning along the coastline of Lerwick in Shetland.

     

  • CLICKIMIN BROCH

    Saturday morning I met my lovely hosts for a breakfast in Lerwick and afterwards I just crossed the supermarket parking space to get to Clickimin Broch situated in a little loch in Lerwick.

    “Broch” is Scottish and means “fort“. They are defensive structures from the Iron Age and are round tall buildings with a spiral staircase running between the inner and outer walls.

    There is a school on the other side of the Loch of Clickiminand my hosts told me that they saw the students walking around the loch as exercise when the school gymnasium was closed because of Covid.

    Clickimin Broch in Lerwick, Shetland.

    About 3000 years ago, during the Bronze Age,

    a family built a small farmhouse on a grassy islet surrounded by loch or marsh, and they walled the islet to enclose their cattle and sheep. (Undiscovered Scotland)

    The remains of the farmhouse lie on the northwest side of the main broch. Back then the water levels were higher and a narrow causeway connected the islet with the mainland.

    Clickimin Broch in Lerwick, Shetland.

    Around 200 BC a stronger wall was built around the islet and a ditch was dug to separate the land from the farm and could only be crossed via a draw-bridge.

    The farm continued to be the main residence, but other wooden buildings with thatched roofs were built within the defensive wall. Around this time the Loch of Clickimin was cut off from the sea and ceased to be tidal. (Undiscovered Scotland)

    A century later a “blockhouse” was built inside the defensive walls but never finished. Soon the works on the broch started. The entrance to the broch is behind the blockhouse, which is unusual for these buildings.

    Clickimin Broch in Lerwick, Shetland.

    Originally the broch was about 12-15m high and had several rooms, enclosures and stairs within the thick, dry stone walls. There were also internal wooden structures providing shelter and accommodation for a significant number of people.

    Later it was reduced in its size (and height) and became the home of one single family.

    Clickimin Broch in Lerwick, Shetland.

    From around AD500, occupation became less organised and the houses in use were poorly built and partly dug into the ruins of the earlier structures. By the time the Norse arrived in the 800s, Clickimin had been abandoned and forgotten. (Undiscovered Scotland)

    Clickimin Broch in Lerwick, Shetland.

    In the 1850ies the Victorian curiosity leads to quite crude digging up the mound and “restoring” of their findings. In the 1950s the area was professionally excavated and today Historic Environment of Scotland cares for Clickimin Broch.

    Clickimin Broch in Lerwick, Shetland.

    Clickimin Broch in Lerwick, Shetland. Clickimin Broch in Lerwick, Shetland.

     

  • Back at St. Ninian´s Isle

    It was late afternoon when we arrived back from Mousa and I wanted to use the sunny day to add another little walk around St. Ninian´s Isle. But imagine my surprise, when I arrived on the other side of Shetland, went down the cliffs and suddenly there was a thick blanket of fog all around me.

    St. Ninians Isle under a thick blanket of fog.

    It was so different from my visit the day before and somehow a bit magical!

    St. Ninians Isle under a thick blanket of fog.St. Ninians Isle under a thick blanket of fog.St. Ninians Isle under a thick blanket of fog.St. Ninians Isle under a thick blanket of fog.