TAP Field Report No. 5 A survey of Shetland's gallow hills Joris ...

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TAP Field Report No. 5direct surroundings, since this may indicateif the sites were potentially meant to be seenfrom afar and may hence have a more symboliccharacter, or if they would have been effectivelocations to impress the local passers-by.Although we do not know what the gallowsin Shetland may have looked like, they areunlikely to have been monumental enoughto be clearly discernible from more than 3kmdistance. Hence, the total visible area andthe visible land and sea surface within a radiusof 3km were calculated for each site (Fig.41). This corresponds to a maximum area of28.3km². It must be stressed that the inaccuracyof the viewshed caused by the resolutionof the DTM plays a larger role at this scale.The total visible area within 3km from eachsite varies from 17.3 to 6.6km². The largestarea can be seen from Muckle Heog in Unst,while the Gallow Hill of Brae has the mostlimited view of the surrounding area. Again,Scalloway is at the bottom of the list, directlyafter Brae, the visible area covering 6.9km².The viewshed analysis within a limitedcircle gives a clearer impression of the importanceof the visibility from the sea. The visiblesea surface (including inlets) in the directsurroundings varies greatly. From the GallowHill of Tingwall, the sea cannot be spottedwithin a radius of 3km at all. On the opposite,the sea represents 70 % of the area visiblewithin this circle from the Knowe of Wilga.Putting it the other way round, there are onlyfour sites, which are more widely visible fromthe sea in the direct surroundings than fromland. These are the Knowe o Wilga, the GallowHills of Fetlar and Unst and the Watch Hill inNorthmavine.Summarising the above results, we can concludethat the gallows sites were potentiallyhighly visible indeed (taking into account thatwe do not know the exact spot of any of the gallows,except perhaps those of Fetlar, and thatthe above results are a best-case scenario).More importantly, most locations seem not tohave been chosen to be primarily visible forthe advancing sailors, but rather seem to forma compromise: while being visible from afar Figure 40 Diagram of the total land and seaarea visible from the discussed sites. The doubtfuland poorly localised sites in Mid-Yell andWhalsay are not included in the diagram. Figure 41 Diagram of the total visible landand sea area within a radius of 3km fromthe discussed sites. The doubtful and poorlylocalised site in Mid-Yell is not included in thediagram.26
Gallow hillsboth from the sea and land, they must haveformed a very confronting sight to the peoplemoving about the surrounding land. In Scalloway,wide visibility of the gallows seems notto have been a major concern at all; however,they may have been perfectly visible from thetown, the castle and the harbour.Gallow hills and parish division The parish division in the late 16th andearly 17th century can be reconstructed onthe basis of the report on the complaints ofthe commons and inhabitants of Shetlandof 1576 (Balfour 1854: 13-92), the courtbooks (Barclay 1962. Barclay 1967. Donaldson1954. Donaldson 1991), and a list ofecclestical ‘beneices’ in Shetland written byRev. James Pitcairn between 1579 and 1612(Goudie 1904: 155-158). The latter showsthat the parishes formed both administrativeand ecclestical units and corresponds tothe description of the different (ecclestical)parishes given by John Brand in 1701 (p. 125-146).Most parishes, which appear in thesedocuments, comprise several communitiesor isles. Since the districts are not alwaysgrouped the same way, the total number ofparishes ranges from nine to thirteen. However,the districts are essentially the same andlargely corresponded to the present parishesin Shetland.In general, we can reconstruct at least tenparishes:- Nesting, Lunnasting, Whalsay and Skerries.The Skerries are listed together withFetlar, Unst and Yell in 1576.- Fetlar- Unst- Yell- Northmavine- Delting. In 1576, it is listed as Delting andScatsta.- Walls, Sandness, Aithsting and Sandsting.Walls is listed separately in 1576 and inPitcairn’s list of ecclestical parishes. It alsoincluded Papa Stour. Figure 42 Judicial districts (parishes) in Shetlandaround 1600 with the location of gallowhills and other possible gallows sites.Parishes: 1 Dunrossness; 2 Burra & Gulberwick; 3Tingwall, Whiteness, Weisdale & Bressay; 4 Walls,Aithsting & Sandsting; 5 Nesting, Lunnasting &Whalsay; 6 Delting; 7 Northmavine; 8 Yell; 9 Fetlar;10 Unst.- Burra and Gulberwick. The parish also includedQuarff and Trondra, but these are notalways mentioned. In 1603, the parish wasgrouped together with Tingwall, Whiteness,Weisdale and Bressay, in 1604 with Bressayonly.- Dunrossness- Tingwall, Whiteness, Weisdale and Bressay.Bressay is listed separately in 1576,while it is grouped together with Burra inPitcairn’s list of ecclestical parishes and in thecourt book of 1604.27
Page 1 and 2: TAP Field Report No. 5A survey ofSh
Page 3 and 4: Gallow hillsTable of contentsIntrod
Page 5 and 6: Gallow hills
Page 7 and 8: Gallow hillssite’s biography and
Page 10 and 11: TAP Field Report No. 5to the northw
Page 12 and 13: TAP Field Report No. 5Figure 11 Top
Page 14 and 15: TAP Field Report No. 5 Figure 17 V
Page 16 and 17: TAP Field Report No. 5Hills (252m).
Page 18 and 19: TAP Field Report No. 59) Watch Hill
Page 20: TAP Field Report No. 5Figure 28 Top
Page 23 and 24: Gallow hillsFigure 36 Topography of
Page 25: Gallow hillsWilgi Geos should proba
Page 29 and 30: Gallow hillsFigure 44 Location of p
Page 31 and 32: Gallow hillsas Herrisdale (Park) an
Page 33 and 34: Gallow hillsof the discussed sites
Page 35 and 36: Gallow hillsturn are strongly conne
Page 37 and 38: Gallow hillsNotes1Brian Smith, foru
Page 39 and 40: Gallow hillsCrawford, O.G.S. 1922.
Page 41 and 42: Gallow hillsAppendix IHistorically
Page 43 and 44: Gallow hills‘Luckymenis Ness’ (
Page 45 and 46: Gallow hillsto be naild to the gall
Page 47 and 48: Gallow hills47
Page 49: Gallow hills49

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