Parish of Lerwick

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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1791-99: Lerwick
1834-45: Lerwick

Lerwick (Scand. Leir-vik, ` mud-bay '), a parish containing a town of the same name, towards the S of the Mainland of Shetland. It is bounded NE and E by Bressay Sound between the Mainland and Bressay, SE by the sea, SW by the portion of Bressay parish now forming the quoad sacra parish of Quarff, and W and NW by the parish of Tingwall. Except along the coast, the boundaries are artificial. The sea coast is deeply indented: on the NE a bay extends from Grimista to Lerwick, 1 mile wide across the mouth, and 3/8 mile deep; S of Lerwick is Brei Wick, 6½ furlongs across the mouth, from the Nab (NE) to Ness of Sound (SW), and ¾ mile deep. To the SW is the Voe of Sound, ¾ mile wide from Dainaberg (NE) to the Nizz (SW), and 11/8 mile deep; and further to the SW still is Gulber Wick, mile wide and 1 mile deep; while on the extreme S is the East Voe of Quar, the northern shore of which is in Lerwick. The Sound of Bressay and the Bay of Lerwick is one of the finest anchorages in the United Kingdom. The greatest length of the parish, from NNW to SSE, at the head of East Voe of Quarff, is 6 ¼ miles; and the greatest width, from the projecting point SE of the burgh of Lerwick to the Hill of Fitch, is 2¾ miles, but the average width is only about 1½ mile. The land area is 5653 acres. From the sea-coast the surface rises steeply to a height of over 100 feet on the N, and over 200 in the centre and S, the highest points being 346 feet on the border of the parish to the SW of Grimista, 273 at Ward of Lerwick NW of the town, 576 at Shorloun Hill W of Sandy Loch, near the centre of the parish; 258 at the highest point between Sandy Loch and Trebister Loch, 365 at the highest point on the road to the SW of Sandy Loch, 244 to the W of Setter Ness, and 217 on the surface of Brindister Loch. Only a very small portion of the parish is arable, and this lies along the coast, where the soil is light and sandy, but fairly good; elsewhere there is rock and peat moss. Except on the extreme S, where mica schist comes in, the underlying rocks belong to the Lower Old Red period, and consist of sandstones, flagstones, and conglomerate, of which the first is quarried. As elsewhere throughout the Shetland Islands, there are a number of small lochs, the principal being Clickhimin or Cleek-em-in, SW of the burgh of Lerwick, separated from Brei Wick by a shingle terrace or ` ayre; ' Sandy IAoch and Trebister Loch, W of the Voe of Sound; Brindister Loch in the S; and Gossa Water on the boundary with Tingwall. Clickhimin derives its name from a whisky-shop that once stood near it and was supposed to entice or ` cleek ' people into it. Brindister Loch has a small island, with the remains of a broch, and said to be a breeding-place of the lesser blackbacked gull. There is another broch at Burland, on the coast to the E; and a third, with some very peculiar features, is on a little circular islet of about 150 feet in diameter in Clickhimin. This last was excavated in 1861, when a number of stone vessels were found. The drainage of the parish is effected by a number of small streams, the principal being two entering the sea near the pier at Grimista, the burns that flow into Sandy and Trebister Lochs and thence to the Voe of Sound, one that enters the head of Gulber Wick, one from Brindister Loch, and one in the SW that flows to Fitch Burn in Tingwall parish. Besides Lerwick burgh, the parish contains also the hamlet of Sound, at the head of Voe of Sound. The inhabitants of Sound are very primitive, and are at deadly feud with the people of Lerwick. The churches are noticed in the following article. Five schools-Gulberwick public, Lerwick first public, Lerwick infant public, Lerwick Educational Institute, and Lerwick Episcopalian-with respective accommodation for 65, 162, 140, 194, and 87 scholars, had (1882) an attendance of 44, 154, 133, 77, and 42, and grants of £30, 18s., £118, 1 6s., £98, £61, 15s., and "28, 15s. The parish is the seat of the presbytery of Lerwick in the synod of Shetland, and the living is worth £193 a year. Gremista, 2 miles NNW of the town of Lerwick, is the only mansion and the largest estate in the parish, belonging to the Nicolson family. There are five other principal landowners, besides a number of feuars. Valuation, inclusive of the burgh, (1881) £9340. Pop. (1801) 1706, (v1831) 3194, (1861) 3631, (1871) 4180, (1881) 4772, of whom 3854 were in the burgh, 191 on board ship, and 727 in the landward part of the parish, while 2141 were males and 2631 females.

The presbytery of Lerwick, meeting at Lerwick as circumstances require, includes the quoad civilia parishes of Bressay, Dunrossness, Lerwick, and Tingwall, the quoad sacra parishes of Quarff and Sandwick, and the mission stations of Fair Isle and Whiteness, the latter being a royal bounty station. Pop. (1871) 13, 047, (1881) 13, 051, of whom 2778 were communicants of the Church of Scotland in 1878.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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