Clarkes in England and Scotland 2024: Day 24 - Shetland - Lerwick

Day 24 - Shetland - Lerwick - 1 October 2024

Well the breakfasts at Lerwick are as good as anywhere and the dining room is old and in character with the rest of the building.

A nice looking place

We then headed south again with the first stop St Ninian's Isle. It is connected to the mainland by a stretch of sand and shells known as a "Tombolo". It really does look spectacular. We have not seen a tombolo before. Access to the beach is via a very narrow road that has passing places every 100 metres or so. That makes for an interesting drive.

A coach full of people arrived just before us so there was quite a crowd on the trombolo. We did not walk across to the other island as it is quite flat and grassy.

The plaque

The trombolo

That is pretty cool

Scotland, including the Shetland Islands was based on the feudal system around 1500s. The landowners and lairds rented crofts (small parcels of land and a house) to commoners and allowed them to run sheep, farm and fish. They were required to sell their produce to the laird who determined the price. Apparently, the lairds tried to keep the crofters in debt so that they would continue making money for them.

We visited a restored croft to see how they lived. At first glance, one could imagine it being quite quaint or even romantic. However, the reality of life meant that it was hard. The men were farming, tending to sheep or fishing. The women were keeping house, spinning wool, knitting, cutting peat for the fire.

The plaque

The croft house

A bed

The fire place

A butter churn

For drying grain

Close by is a water mill and as we approached, we saw a lot of people standing with cameras. They didn't seem to be doing anything but were just waiting. periodically, they looked through the camera. Apparently, they are "Twitchers" looking for birds. A migratory bird from Russia had been spotted and they were out to get its picture.

In 1770, the Grierson family acquired the land where the Quendale Water Mill now stands and became the Laird. In 1870, they commissioned the construction of the water mill so that the grain from the surrounding crofters could be ground to flour. Grinding took place in winter when there was plenty of rain and water in the dam. The mill operated continuously until 1948 when the cost became too great for the mill to run profitably.

The mill then sat vacant until the 1990s when the town's people urged it to be renovated. It is now fully operational but does not grind grain. It is "turned over" when there is sufficient water.

It was fascinating to see how the mill operated. The wheel is quite large and only a small flow of water is required for it to turn. Gears then turn the grinding stones which are probably about 1,200 mm in diameter. The grain is received raw and is threshed (stalk separated from the grain) inside the mill. that was rare.

The mill also has other displays of old tools, coins, notes, a Halifax crash, the clearance of the crofters and other interesting things of the area.

The water wheel

The mill

A hand mill

An old grinding stone

The gears

We then went back to Lerwick for a walk around town to see whether we could locate any buildings used in the series Shetland. We did. We found the beach and the house used as the home of Perez. It was really quite surprising to see that the places in the series are used by people everyday.

The beach

The beach and sea

The last stop of the day was the fort in Lerwick, Fort Charlotte. Construction started in 1665 but was not completed. It was used during the second Dutch war and was subsequently reconstructed to how it would have been in 1780. It is in the open and free entry. We wandered through and were able to get some great photographs of the town.