Northmavine parish

NORTHMAVINE, a parish, in the Mainland district, county of Shetland, 30 miles (N. W. by N.) from Lerwick; containing 2504 inhabitants. This is a peninsula of nearly triangular form, joined to the parish of Delting and the great body of the Mainland by the isthmus of Mavine, a neck of land not more than 100 yards wide, and which is almost covered by the sea at spring tides. The parish is thought to take its name from its situation being northward from the isthmus, while some suppose it to have been designated North Main, or Northmavine, from its relative bearing to the rest of the Mainland. It is about sixteen miles in length from north to south, about eight miles in breadth, and is computed to contain 60,000 acres, 6000 of which are under cultivation. The surface of the interior is uneven, rugged, and hilly, and for the most part covered with short coarse grass or heather; while the shores, which are surrounded with islands, holms, and rocks, are lofty and precipitous. They are deeply indented with numerous fissures, forming excellent creeks and bays, and frequented at all seasons of the year by wild geese, ducks, and a variety of other water-fowl. The most spacious and celebrated of these harbours is St. Magnus' Bay, on the west, from which several voes run into the land, affording commodious and safe retreats for shipping in stormy weather. Hillswick voe is most resorted to, on account of its greater security. On the south and east of the bay is Sullom voe, eight miles long; and on the north are Ronan's voe, a narrow channel six miles in length, and Hamna voe; both of them, especially the latter, considered superior harbours. At the back of Hillswick Ness is an immense rock called the Drongs, which rises perpendicularly to the height of 100 feet; and not far distant is the rock of Dorholm, rising to an elevation of about seventy-six feet, and distinguished by an arch, whence it takes its name, and the height of which is fifty-four feet. A few miles north-westward is another rock, called Osse-Skerry, forming a conspicuous object from a great distance, and also entered by a very spacious arch; and between the two last-named rocks is a third, bearing the name of Maiden-Skerry, rising from the sea at a small distance from the shore, and on which, tradition asserts that no person has ever trodden. Near Fetheland, to the east of the parish, is a range of lofty rocks called the Romna Stacks, which, with the adjacent holms and promontories, invest the locality with a picturesque appearance: they have long been well known as landmarks by mariners. Of the numerous islands and holms around the shore, the chief are Eagleshay, Nibon, Stenness, Gluss, Gunister, and Lamba: they are all uninhabited, but afford excellent pasturage for sheep and cattle, which graze both summer and winter without shelter or fodder, and are remarkable when killed for the flavour of their flesh.

None of the hills are of great height, except that of Rona, which is 1500 feet above the level of the sea, and is the most lofty elevation in Shetland, commanding on a fine clear day, which seldom happens, extensive and beautiful views of sea and land. Not far from the summit are some powerful springs. The parish contains upwards of 100 lochs, and many of them are of considerable size, and well stocked with trout. The soil is of various kinds, but generally very thin and wet; a circumstance which, in connexion with that of the tenacious impenetrable subsoil, greatly impedes the operations of agriculture. The rocky parts are mostly covered with peat-moss, affording to the inhabitants an inexhaustible supply of fuel; while along the shore, in some places the earth is light and sandy, and in others clayey and loamy, producing usually very good crops. Several sorts of grain are cultivated, to the yearly value of about £3000; meadow-hay to the amount of £100; and potatoes, turnips, and cabbages, to the value of £1000. Some of the native sheep yet remain, but in general the sheep are a cross between these and the Cheviot or the black-faced; and large numbers of the native cattle and ponies are annually reared. The state of farming, however, is very low. The scarcity of money, and the want of roads, but especially the absence of the men during the summer season at the fishing stations, and the tenure on which the farmers hold their land, form obstacles to any extensive improvements in husbandry. Ploughs are occasionally to be seen; but for the most part they have yielded to the spade since the distribution of the farms into smaller allotments, and the selection of many portions from the common ground for cultivation. The fences are principally of turf, and form but little security against the ravages of the sheep, from which the crops sustain much damage every year, as well as from the storms that visit the locality. The annual value of real property in Northmavine is only £256. In this parish the rocks comprise old red sandstone and coarse limestone, and chromate of iron of inferior quality has been found; the higher grounds consist chiefly of granite, gneiss, porphyry, sienite, and sienitic greenstone. The mansions are, Ollaberry, a very neat modern structure; and Tangwick.

The parish is entirely destitute of roads; but there is a communication, by post, with Lerwick twice a week. The trade consists partly in the sale of cattle and horses, which are sent by steamers to the southern markets, but principally in the curing offish, of which the cod is chiefly sent to Spain, and the ling and tusk to Leith, Liverpool, and Ireland. It appears, however, that the former of these fisheries has been nearly given up, on account of its almost total failure for several years past. The latter, for which there are three stations, namely, Stennies, Hamna voe, and Fetheland, is carried on from May till August, at the distance of forty or fifty miles from the shore. The inhabitants also take sea-trout, haddock, whiting, codlings, and piltocks, for their own subsistence; and are tolerably well supplied with mussels, cockles, oysters, lobsters, and other shell-fish. In the month of May there is a sale or fair for milch-cows, cattle, and horses; in November is one for fat-cattle and horses; and at several fairs of an inferior kind many persons attend and much business is done.

Ecclesiastically the parish is in the presbytery of Burravoe, synod of Shetland, and in the patronage of the Earl of Zetland: the minister's stipend is £150 per annum, with a manse, and a glebe situated in four different parts of the parish, and valued altogether at £15 per annum. Northmavine church is a plain building, situated inconveniently for the population, at no great distance from the sea, and capable of accommodating 583 persons with sittings; it was built in 1733, repaired in 1764, and the interior renovated in 1822. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans, and another for Independents. The parochial school affords instruction in reading, writing, grammar, arithmetic, book-keeping, and navigation; the master has a salary of £25. 3. 4., with about £4 fees. There is also a school supported by the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, in which the same branches are taught. The principal antiquities are, an immense stone of the granite species, raised on the top of a hill encircled at the base by smaller stones; the remains of a large Picts' house; a watch-tower on the summit of Rona's hill; and the ruins of a church at Ollaberry, of one at North Roe, and other religious houses.