Dunrossness, (
Old Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
: ''Dynrastarnes'' meaning "headland of the loud tide-race", referring to the noise of
Sumburgh Roost) is the southernmost parish of
Shetland
Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...
,
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. Historically the name Dunrossness has usually referred to the area on the
Shetland mainland south of
Quarff.
[ However, in 2016 there were three separate Shetland Community Councils for a) Gulberwick, Quarff and Cunningsburgh; b) Sandwick; and c) Dunrossness. The 2011 census defined Dunrossness as including everybody within the British ZE2 postal code, which goes as far north as Gulberwick. It has the best and largest area of fertile farmland of any parish in Shetland.]Mousa
Mousa ( "moss island") is a small island in Shetland, Scotland, uninhabited since the nineteenth century. The island is known for the Broch of Mousa, an Iron Age Broch, round tower, and is designated as a Special Protection Area for storm-petr ...
, Levenwick, St Ninian's Isle
St Ninian's Isle is a small tied island connected by the largest tombolo in the UK to the south-western coast of the Mainland, Shetland, in Scotland. It is part of the civil parish of Dunrossness on the South Mainland. The tombolo, known loca ...
, Bigton, Scousburgh, the Lochs of Spiggie and Brow, Boddam, Quendale, Virkie, Exnaboe, Grutness, Toab, Ness of Burgi, Clumlie Broch, Scatness, Sumburgh Airport
Sumburgh Airport is the main airport serving the island of Shetland, Scotland. It is located on the southern tip of the mainland, in the parish of Dunrossness, south of Lerwick. The airport is owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limit ...
, Sumburgh Head
Sumburgh Head is a headland located at the southern tip of the main island of the Shetland Archipelago, in northern Scotland. The head consists of a 100 m high rocky spur and topped by the Sumburgh Head Lighthouse. In the Old Norse langua ...
, West Voe, the islands of Lady's Holm, Little Holm, Horse Holm island and Fair Isle
Fair Isle ( ; ), sometimes Fairisle, is the southernmost Shetland island, situated roughly from the Shetland Mainland and about from North Ronaldsay (the most northerly island of Orkney).
The entire archipelago lies off the northernmost coa ...
.Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...
visited Dunrossness in 1814 and wrote the novel ''The Pirate'', which is set mostly in the Parish.[ and his son Thomas Stevenson and his grandson, the author ]Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
, visited the Shetland lighthouses and Fair Isle in 1870.
Dunrossness had 1,505 sites of archaeological interest in 2016, 181 of them scheduled (i.e. nationally important).[ For example, Jarlshof, perhaps the best known prehistoric archaeological site in Shetland and ]Old Scatness
Old Scatness is an archeological site on Scat Ness, near the village of Scatness, in the parish of Dunrossness in the south end of Mainland, Shetland, Scotland, near Sumburgh Airport. It consists of medieval, Viking, Pictish, and Iron Age re ...
(which has mediaeval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...
, Viking
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...
, Pictish
Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...
, and Iron Age
The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
remains) both lie within the parish of Dunrossness. Another example is the lost township of Broo (other spellings include Brew and Brow) near Quendale Beach. Broo was headed by the wealthy Sinclair family and was inhabited until probably the last decades of the 17th century when the buildings were covered with up to two metres of sand and abandoned. These have been excavated since 1997.
Quendale beach was the site of the largest whale-kill ever recorded in Shetland in 1845 when 1,540 Long-finned Pilot Whales were driven ashore.
In 1993 the oil tanker MV ''Braer'' ran aground on Garths Ness in Dunrossness releasing 85,000 tons of crude oil one of the worst oil spills in Shetland's history.
References
*
*
Sources
* This article is based on http://shetlopedia.com/Dunrossness a GFDL wiki.
Parishes of Shetland
Fair Isle
Mainland, Shetland
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