Sandsting is a parish in the West Mainland of

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, forming a southern arm of the Walls Peninsula. After the parish of Aithsting was annexed into Sandsting in the sixteenth century, it became known as Sandsting and Aithsting parish.

Summary

The parish includes the settlements of Skeld, Westerwick and

Culswick The Broch of Culswick (also Culswick Broch) is an unexcavated coastal broch in the Shetland Islands Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe I ...

. It contains the islands of

Vementry Vementry (Old Norse: "Vemunðarey") is an uninhabited Scottish island in Shetland on the north side of the West Mainland, lying south of Muckle Roe. Description and history The island is known for its well-preserved chambered cairn. The well ...

and

Papa Little Papa Little ( sco, Papa Little; Old Norse: ''Papey Litla'', meaning "the little island of the priests") is an island in St Magnus Bay, Shetland, Scotland. The island lies at the head of Aith Voe in north west Mainland, Shetland, south of Muc ...

together with a number of smaller islets, on the south side of

St Magnus Bay 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 , it is open to the North Atlantic Ocean to the west. The indented coastline to the north, south and east ...

, and comprehends a mainland district of about ten miles by eight between that bay and

Scalloway Scalloway ( non, Skálavágr, "bay with the large house(s)") is the largest settlement on the west coast of the Mainland, the largest island of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. The village had a population of roughly 900, at the 2011 census. ...

Bay. The coast is partly bold, and cavernous; the seaboard is cut into sections by long bays; and the interior is mostly an assemblage of knolls and hillocks, with a profusion of heath and interspersions of moss. The area of the parish is given as 162.4 km². Antiquities include

standing stones A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be found ...

, burial monds and

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is 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 of Scandinavia and t ...

fortifications A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, as well as church ruins and burial grounds. St Mary's Chapel in Sandsting was once the main church for the parish of Sandsting. The medieval church, which was built no later than the sixteenth century, now stands in ruin.

Etymology

Sandsting is a place name derived from the farm of Sand. Ting, from the

''Thing'', is a reference to an assembly site or meeting place believed to have once been located within the area.''Patterns of Assembly: Norse Thing Sites in Shetland'' ( Alexandra Sanmark">''Patterns of Assembly: Norse Thing Sites in Shetland'' (Alexandra Sanmark
. Journal of the North Atlantic 2013 Special Volume 5:XX–XX)/ref>

Note

* This article is based in part on ''The Gazetteer of Scotland'' by Rev. John Wilson (1882) Published by W. & A.K. Johnstone, Edinburgh

References

External links

St. Mary's Chapel, SandShetland Parish Map
{{Coord">60, 13, N, 1, 24, W, region:GB_scale:100000, display=title Parishes of Shetland Thing (assembly) Mainland, Shetland">Thing_(assembly).html" ;"title="Parishes of Shetland Thing (assembly)">Parishes of Shetland Thing (assembly) Mainland, Shetland

Summary

Etymology

Note

References

Related Reading

External links