Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hillswick
HILLSWICK , the main settlement in the area, is situated on another narrow isthmus,
and was once a centre for deep-sea or haaf fishing, and later a herring station. In
1900, the North of Scotland, Orkney & Shetland Steam Navigation Company
built the St Magnus Hotel to house their customers, importing it in the form of a
timber kit from Norway. Despite various alterations over the years, it still stands
overlooking St Magnus Bay, rather magnificently clad in black timber-framing and
white weatherboarding.
Down by the ancient harbour, Da Böd was founded by a Hanseatic merchant in
1684, later became Shetland's oldest pub and is now a seal and wildlife sanctuary and
occasional weekend café. The stony beach by the harbour is very sheltered, but the
nicest, sandiest beach is on the west side of the Hillswick isthmus, overlooking Dore
Holm, a short walk across the fields from the hotel.
Esha Ness
Just outside Hillswick, a side road leads west to the exposed headland of Esha Ness ,
celebrated for its splendid coastline views. Spectacular red-granite cliffs , shaped
into fantastic forms by the elements, spread out before you as the road climbs away
from Hillswick: to the south, out at sea, are the stacks known as The Drongs of the
Ness of Hillswick, while in the distance the Westside and Papa Stour are visible.
After about three miles, you reach Braewick café and campsite, where there's a great
view over the wide bay of Brae Wick, from which several small dead-end roads lead
off to the coast.
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Tangwick Haa Museum
Easter-Sept daily 11am-5pm • Free • T 01806 503389, W tangwickhaa.org.uk
One small dead-end road, off the main road, leads south to the Tangwick Haa Museum ,
housed in a seventeenth-century building, which, through photographs, old documents
and fishing gear, tells the often moving story of this remote corner of Shetland and its
role in the dangerous trade of deep-sea fishing and whaling. All ages will also enjoy the
shells and the Shetland wool and sand samples.
Stenness fishing station
West of Braewick, the road divides, with the southern branch leading to the remains
of Stenness fishing station , once one of the most important haaf-fishing stations in
Shetland. A few ruined böds used by the fishermen are still visible along the sloping
pebbly beach where they would dry their catch. In the early nineteenth century, as
many as eighteen trips a year were made in up to seventy open, six-oared boats, known
as “sixareens”, to the fishing grounds thirty or forty miles to the west. A Shetland folk
song, Rowin' Foula Doon , recalls how the crews rowed so far west that the island of
Foula began to sink below the eastern horizon.
Esha Ness Lighthouse
West of Braewick, where the road divides, the northernmost branch ends at Esha Ness
Lighthouse , a great place to view the red-sandstone cliffs, stacks and blowholes of this
stretch of coast. An information board at the lighthouse details some of the dramatic
geological features here and, if the weather's a bit rough, you should be treated to some
spectacular crashing waves. One of the features to beware of here are the blowholes,
some of which are hidden far inland. The best example is the Holes of Scraada , a partly
roofed cleft, half a mile north of the lighthouse, where the sea suddenly appears 300yd
inland from the cliff line. The incredible power of the sea can be seen in the various
giant boulder fields above the cliffs: these storm beaches are formed by rocks torn from
the cliffs in storms and deposited inland.
 
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