Tingwall, Shetland

Tingwall
Tingwall
	Veensgarth, with Burra Dale wind farm in the background, along with Loch of Tingwall
	Tingwall Location within Shetland
OS grid reference	HU425426
Civil parish	Tingwall;
Council area	Shetland;
Lieutenancy area	Shetland;
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SHETLAND
Postcode district	ZE2
Dialling code	01595
Police	Scotland
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
UK Parliament	Orkney and Shetland;
Scottish Parliament	Shetland;
	List of places UK Scotland 60°10′01″N 1°13′59″W / 60.167°N 1.233°W

Tingwall, (Old Norse: Þingvǫllr = Field of the Thing assembly) is a parish in Shetland, Scotland. Located mostly on the Shetland Mainland, the centre lies about 2 miles north of Scalloway. Tingwall Airport is located in the village.

Parish

Tingwall parish includes the settlements of Scalloway, Whiteness, Veensgarth and Gott, and the Vallafield housing estate. The centre of the parish was the Tingwall Kirk.^[1] It comprehends a section of Mainland, stretching from the Atlantic at Scalloway, to the North Sea at Rova Head and includes the formerly inhabited islands of Hildasay, Langa, Linga, Papa and Oxna.^[2]

The Mainland section is divided into two districts by a hill ridge, and comprises two parallel valleys (nearly at right angles from the ridge). The Tingwall valley extends north from near Scalloway to the south end of Lax Firth. It is diversified by the lochs of Tingwall, Girlsta, Asta, Strom and some others.

It is so indented by the sea as to contain no point farther than two miles (three kilometres) from it. Measured across marine intersections, it has a length of about 19 miles (31 kilometres), and a maximum breadth of 10 miles (16 kilometres).

History

Monument to Andrew Crawford, master of work to the Earl of Orkney in Tingwall kirkyard

The small promontory at the end of Tingwall Loch, known as Tingaholm or Law Ting Holm was once home to Shetland's earliest parliament. It was once an islet entirely surrounded by water and accessed by a stone causeway. In the 1850s the level of the loch was lowered, and the holm took on its present form.^[3]

Tingwall was also the base of the Archdeaconry in Shetland. The present day church lies on the site of a much older building, originally dedicated to St Magnus. The burial vault in the churchyard, a turf covered mound with an arched stone doorway, is believed to belong to this earlier building. The burial vault contains 17th and 18th century stone grave slabs. The earlier church, which is thought to have had a round tower, is similar in design to that of the St Magnus Kirk on Egilsay, Orkney.^[4]

There are a number of ancient and historical monuments in Tingwall, including a standing stone ^[5] known as the murder stone. This stone is traditionally said to be the site where the Earl of Orkney killed his cousin in a power struggle over Shetland. Local folklore also suggests that a person could escape punishment at the Thing if they were able to run to the stone and claim sanctuary. Other versions of this story involve running to the Kirk, or the nearby croft at Griesta.

Tingwall was the home of brothers Laurence I. Graham (Lollie) and John J. Graham, two of Shetland's most influential 20th Century Writers.

Wildlife

Tufted duck, red-breasted merganser and common and black-headed gull frequent the loch, which is also home to Shetland's only mute swans.^[6]

References

^ Tingwall Church (The Church of Scotland)
^ Turnbull, Rev John (1845). The New Statistical Account of Scotland: Sutherland, Caithness, Orkney, Shetland, General index. The New Statistical Account of Scotland. Vol. 15. W. Blackwood and Sons. p. 59.
^ Law Ting Holm (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland)
^ Finnie, Michael (1990). Shetland: An Illustrated Architectural Guide. Mainstream Publishing. p. 36. ISBN 978-1851583904.
^ Loch of Tingwall (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland)
^ "Tingwall Central Mainland Law Ting Holm Shetland Parliament". iknow-scotland.co.uk Retrieved 15 August 2010.

Other sources

The original article is based on Shetlopedia.co a GFDL wiki.
Wilson, Rev. John The Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: 1882) Published by W. & A. K. Johnstone
Tudor, J. R. The Orkneys and Shetland: Their Past and Present State(London: 1883) Published by Edward Stanford) [1]

External links

Tingwall Stone (Murder stone)

[1] Tingwall Church (The Church of Scotland)

[2] Turnbull, Rev John (1845). The New Statistical Account of Scotland: Sutherland, Caithness, Orkney, Shetland, General index. The New Statistical Account of Scotland. Vol. 15. W. Blackwood and Sons. p. 59.

[3] Law Ting Holm (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland)

[Finnie-4] Finnie, Michael (1990). Shetland: An Illustrated Architectural Guide. Mainstream Publishing. p. 36. ISBN 978-1851583904.

[5] Loch of Tingwall (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland)

[6] "Tingwall Central Mainland Law Ting Holm Shetland Parliament". iknow-scotland.co.uk Retrieved 15 August 2010.

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