Walls, Shetland

Last updated

Walls
  • Waas
Boats at Walls - geograph.org.uk - 102390.jpg
Boats at Walls on a warm summer afternoon
Scotland location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Walls
Location within Scotland
OS grid reference HU240494
Civil parish
Council area
Lieutenancy area
Country Scotland
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town SHETLAND
Postcode district ZE2
Dialling code (01595) 809xxx
Police Scotland
Fire Scottish
Ambulance Scottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
List of places
UK
Scotland
60°13′44″N1°33′54″W / 60.229°N 1.565°W / 60.229; -1.565

Walls, traditionally pronounced Waas, is a settlement on the south side of West Mainland, Shetland Islands in Scotland. The settlement is at the head of Vaila Sound and sheltered even from southerly storms by the islands of Linga and Vaila. Walls is within the parish of Walls and Sandness which includes the islands of Foula, Papa Stour, Vaila and Linga. [1]

Contents

Etymology

The name is from the Old Norse: Vágar meaning voes or bays. [2] This became Waas in the Shetlandic dialect - but how this then came to be spelled "Walls" is not certain. MacBain quotes F. W. L. Thomas: "How, I ask, could vágr come to be represented by wall? Whence came the ll? Was it that Scottish immigrants finding the sound of represented it in writing by 'wall,' the ll at first being silent?" [3]

One form of the area's old name was Vágarland, [3] hence the pen name of local poet 'Vagaland'.

History

A pier was built at Walls in the 18th century, and from 1838, it was a centre for fish curing. Walls itself is a quieter place than once it was. The large houses of Bayhall, now converted into flats, and Voe House are signs of past wealth, as are the three churches visible around the head of the sound. Two are still in use, while the third bears a sign showing its later conversion to a bakery.

Walls was the childhood home of two poets, Vagaland (Thomas Alexander Robertson, 1909–1973) and Christine De Luca (born 1947). In 1884 it was the birthplace of both Peter Fraser (1884–1966), musician and founder member of the Shetland Fiddlers' Society, and William Moffatt, author.

Community

A little to the east of the centre of the village is the marina, making this a popular base for leisure sailors. The fishing vessels that are still based in Walls tend to use the pier a few hundred yards along the west side of Vaila Sound. This is also the terminus for the ferry service to the island of Foula which lies 20 miles (32 kilometres) west, out into the Atlantic. [4]

Today it is home to the Shetland dialect children's writer Iris Sandison, also secretary to the local history group.

Walls has long been noted for its annual agricultural show. A short film of 'da Waas Show' in the early 1960s, by the late Albert Hunter, is available at the link below.

See also

Notes

  1. "Details of Walls". Gazetteer for Scotland. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  2. Jakobsen 1897, pp. 114–15.
  3. 1 2 MacBain 1922, p. 114.
  4. "Foula Ferry Booking Information". BK Marine Ltd. Retrieved 29 June 2024.

Related Research Articles

Norn is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the Northern Isles off the north coast of mainland Scotland and in Caithness in the far north of the Scottish mainland. After Orkney and Shetland were pledged to Scotland by Norway in 1468–69, it was gradually replaced by Scots. Norn is thought to have become extinct around 1850, after the death of Walter Sutherland, the language's last known speaker, though there are claims the language persisted as late as the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shetland</span> Archipelago in the Northern Atlantic

Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foula</span> Island of the Shetland Islands, Scotland

Foula, located in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland, is one of the United Kingdom's most remote permanently inhabited islands. Owned since the turn of the 20th century by the Holbourn family, the island was the location for the film The Edge of the World (1937). The liner RMS Oceanic was wrecked on the nearby Shaalds of Foula in 1914. The island has a post office.

Papa Stour is one of the Shetland Islands in Scotland, with a population of under fifteen people, some of whom immigrated after an appeal for residents in the 1970s. Located to the west of mainland Shetland and with an area of 828 hectares, Papa Stour is the ninth largest island in Shetland. Erosion of the soft volcanic rocks by the sea has created an extraordinary variety of caves, stacks, arches, blowholes, and cliffs. The island and its surrounding seas harbour diverse populations of wildlife. The west side of the island is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and the seas around the island are a Special Area of Conservation.

The Isle of Noss or Noss is a small, previously inhabited island in Shetland, Scotland. Noss is separated from the island of Bressay by the narrow Noss Sound. It has been run as a sheep farm since 1900, and has been a national nature reserve since 1955.

Vaila is an island in Shetland, Scotland, lying south of the Westland peninsula of the Shetland Mainland. It has an area of 327 hectares, and is 95 metres (312 ft) at its highest point.

Uyea is an uninhabited island, lying south of Unst in Shetland, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ve Skerries</span> Small islands in the west of Shetland

The Ve Skerries or Vee Skerries are a group of low skerries three miles (4.8 km) north west of Papa Stour, on the west coast of Shetland, Scotland. They define the southwest perimeter of St Magnus Bay.

Vagaland, was a poet from Shetland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yell Sound</span>

Yell Sound is the strait running between Yell and Mainland, Shetland, Scotland. It is the boundary between the Mainland and the North Isles and it contains many small islands. Sullom Voe, on the shores of which is a substantial oil terminal, is an arm of Yell Sound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linga, Vaila Sound</span>

Linga is one of the Shetland Islands, near Vaila and Walls on Mainland, Shetland. Its highest elevation is 28 metres (91 ft).

Burrastow is a location on the west shore of Vaila Sound near the village of Walls on the Shetland Mainland, Scotland. There are two small piers and the imposing 18th-century Burrastow House. To the east is the bay of Lera Voe and the two small islets of Holm of Breibister and Holm of Burrastow. To the south is Wester Sound, which lies between the mainland and Vaila. The rocky coast contains numerous caves, geos and skerries. Otters and seals are commonly seen offshore.

Shetland Islands Council Ferries is a company operating inter-island ferry services in Shetland, a subarctic archipelago off the northeast coast of Scotland. The company operates services across 10 of the Shetland islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Magnus Bay</span> Bay in Northwest of Mainland, Shetland

St Magnus Bay is a large coastal feature in the north-west of Mainland Shetland, Scotland. Roughly circular in shape with a diameter of about 19 kilometres (12 mi), it is open to the North Atlantic Ocean to the west. The indented coastline to the north, south and east between Esha Ness in the north and the Ness of Melby in the south contains numerous bays, firths and voes and there are several islands around the perimeter. The waters of the bay are up to 165 metres (541 ft) deep and may have been the site of a substantial meteor impact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronas Voe</span>

Ronas Voe is a voe in Northmavine, Shetland. It divides the land between Ronas Hill, Shetland's tallest mountain, and the Tingon peninsula. It is the second largest voe in Shetland, the largest being Sullom Voe. The townships of Heylor, Voe and Swinister are located on its shores, and the township of Assater is under a kilometre away.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heylor</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Heylor is a settlement situated on the south side of Ronas Voe in Northmavine, Shetland, Scotland. It lies directly opposite Ronas Hill, Shetland's tallest mountain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lang Ayre</span> Beach in the Shetland Islands of Scotland

The Lang Ayre is a beach on the west side of Ronas Hill, Northmavine, Shetland. At 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) in length it is the archipelago's longest. It is accessed either by a long walk from the top of Collafirth Hill down the Burn of Monius, or by sea. The beach's sand is red, eroded from the up to 700 feet (210 m) high red granite cliffs towering above it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fethaland</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Fethaland or Fedeland is an abandoned settlement at the extreme north end of Mainland, Shetland. It was the site of the largest Haaf fishing station in Shetland.

References

This article incorporates text from the article Walls on Shetlopedia, which was licensed under the GNU Free Documentation Licence until September 14, 2007.