Cunningsburgh, formerly also known as Coningsburgh ( non, Konungsborgr meaning "King's castle"), is a hamlet and ancient parish in the south of

Mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...

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 n ...

, Scotland. The hamlet is on the coast, nine miles south south west of

Lerwick Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...

, about halfway between there and

Sumburgh Head Sumburgh Head is a headland located at the southern tip of the Shetland Mainland in northern Scotland. The head consists of a 100 m high rocky spur and topped by the Sumburgh Head Lighthouse. In the Old Norse language, Sumburgh Head was cal ...

. The parish was merged with

Dunrossness Dunrossness, (Old Norse: ''Dynrastarnes'' meaning "headland of the loud tide-race", referring to the noise of Sumburgh Roost) is the southernmost parish of Shetland, Scotland. Historically the name Dunrossness has usually referred to the area o ...

and Sandwick in 1891. It is on the A970 road. There is a primary school, a marina, a community shop, a public hall, a history centre, a touring park, and a

United Free Church of Scotland The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; gd, An Eaglais Shaor Aonaichte, sco, The Unitit Free Kirk o Scotland) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and ...

kirk. Amongst the settlements in the parish are

Aithsetter Aithsetter (Old Norse: ''Eiðseti'', meaning "the farm at the isthmus") is a village on the island of Mainland, in Shetland, Scotland. Aithsetter is in the parish of Dunrossness, towards the north end of the district of Cunningsburgh Cunningsb ...

, Ocraquoy, and Gord. Cunningsburgh is included in the South Mainland

Up Helly Aa Up Helly Aa ( ; literally "Up Holy .html" ;"title="ay/nowiki>">ay/nowiki> All") is a type of fire festival held annually from January to March in various communities in Shetland, Scotland, to mark the end of the Yule season. Each festival inv ...

fire festival (SMUHA). SMUHA was the first Up Helly Aa event to have elected a female Guizer Jarl, Lesley Simpson, in 2015.

History

There is a prehistoric

steatite Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the ...

quarry site in

Catpund Catpund is a quarry site in Shetland, Scotland, where steatite vessels were cut from the rock from prehistory onwards. The quarrying marks are still visible today. Location The Catpund quarry is located beside a burn in Mainland. History St ...

, Cunningsburgh. A large standstone block dated between the 10th and 11th centuries CE was found in a burial ground in Cunningsburgh.

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

runic inscriptions on the stone suggest it was erected as a memorial. The runestone is now on display at the

National Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opene ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. Outsider artist, poet and musician Adam Christie was born in Aith, Cunningsburgh in 1869 and became known for his stone sculptures of human heads. At the age of 32 Christie was committed to Sunnyside Psychiatric Hospital, Montrose, and never returned to Shetland. His work has been posthumously exhibited in Montrose and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

. There is a memorial to Christie outside the Cunningsburgh History Group's headquarters. The Cunningsburgh memorial was funded by History Scotland and made by one of Christie's living descendants. On the 22nd November

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in ...

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden ...

DZ642 crashed in Royl Field. The Cunningsburgh History Group dedicated a memorial plaque to the crew, which was erected in 2018.

Cunningsburgh Show

The Cunningsburgh Show is an annual agricultural show, held on the second Wednesday of August. First held in 1944 as a

livestock show A livestock show is an event where livestock are exhibited and judged on certain phenotypical breed traits as specified by their respective breed standard. Species of livestock that may be shown include pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, horses, llam ...

, it is now the largest event of its kind in Shetland, attracting around 4,000 people. Livestock exhibited include cattle,

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

, and poultry, and there are other competitions including baking, jam making, and equestrian events. The 2014 show included over 2,800 individual entries across all categories. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

the 2020 show was a virtual-only event.

References

This article incorporates text from - Wilson, Rev. John ''The Gazetteer of Scotland'' (Edinburgh, 1882) Published by W. & A.K. Johnstone

External links

{{commons category, Cunningsburgh
Cunningsburgh History GroupCunningsburgh ShowCanmore - Glenlea site record
Villages in Mainland, Shetland Parishes of Shetland