Dunrossness, (

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

: ''Dynrastarnes'' meaning "headland of the loud tide-race", referring to the noise of Sumburgh Roost) is the southernmost parish of

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 no ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Historically the name Dunrossness has usually referred to the area on the

Shetland mainland The Mainland is the main island of Shetland, Scotland. The island contains Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick, and is the centre of Shetland's ferry and air connections. Geography It has an area of , making it the third-largest Scottish island and ...

south of

Quarff Quarff is a small village on Mainland in the Shetland Islands in Scotland. It is located on the main A970 road, south of Shetland's only town, Lerwick. The village is spread along a classic glacial valley that runs east–west across the island ...

. However, in 2016 there were three separate Shetland Community Councils for a) Gulberwick, Quarff and Cunningsburgh; b) Sandwick; and c) Dunrossness. The 2011 census defined Dunrossness as including everybody within the British ZE2 postal code, which goes as far north as Gulberwick. It has the best and largest area of fertile farmland of any parish in Shetland. Dunrossness includes the island of

Mousa Mousa ( non, Mosey "moss island") is a small island in Shetland, Scotland, uninhabited since the nineteenth century. The island is known for the Broch of Mousa, an Iron Age round tower, and is designated as a Special Protection Area for storm-p ...

Levenwick Levenwick is a small village about south of Lerwick, on the east side of the South Mainland of Shetland, Scotland. It is part of the parish of Dunrossness and the Levenwick Health Centre provides medical support for the Dunrossness area.It con ...

St Ninian's Isle St Ninian's Isle is a small tied island connected by the largest tombolo in the UK to the south-western coast of the Mainland, Shetland, in Scotland. It is part of the civil parish of Dunrossness on the South Mainland. The tombolo, known locally ...

Bigton Bigton is a small settlement on South Mainland, Shetland, UK. Bigton is within the civil parish of Dunrossness. Bigton lies on the Atlantic coast of the island overlooking St Ninian's Isle and within view is the island of Burra, further to th ...

Scousburgh Scousburgh is a small community in the parish of Dunrossness, in the South Mainland of Shetland, Scotland, overlooking the picturesque Scousburgh Sand, and Spiggie Loch. From Scousburgh a road leads up the hill to the site of the former Mossy Hil ...

, the

Lochs of Spiggie and Brow The Lochs of Spiggie and Brow are located west of Boddam in the parish of Dunrossness, in the South Mainland of Shetland, Scotland, about 6 km north of Sumburgh. They are designated as a Special Protection Area and a Site of Special Scie ...

, Boddam, Quendale,

Virkie Virkie is the most southerly district of Shetland, other than Fair Isle and is best defined as the area south of the Ward Hill in Dunrossness, also locally referred to as "below da hill" (below the hill), or "da laich Ness" (the low headland). Vi ...

Exnaboe Exnaboe, locally referred to as 'bö', is a settlement in the Virkie area of the parish of Dunrossness, South Mainland, Shetland, Scotland, overlooking Sumburgh Airport, and the Pool of Virkie The Pool of Virkie is a tidal lagoon in the paris ...

Grutness Grutness is a small settlement and headland at the southern tip of the main island of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. The settlement is within the parish of Dunrossness. It is located close to Sumburgh Head, and is the terminus of the ferry ser ...

, Toab, Ness of Burgi, Clumlie Broch,

Scatness Scatness is a settlement on the headland of Scat Ness at the southern tip of Mainland, Shetland, Scotland, across the West Voe of Sumburgh from Sumburgh Head and close to Sumburgh Airport, the Shetland Islands' main airport. Scatness is in t ...

Sumburgh Airport Sumburgh Airport is the main airport serving Shetland in Scotland. It is located on the southern tip of the mainland, in the parish of Dunrossness, south of Lerwick. The airport is owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) and s ...

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 ...

, West Voe, the islands of

Lady's Holm Lady's Holm is an island off southern Mainland in the Shetland Islands. It is not to be confused with the Maiden Stack, which is also known as "Frau Stack" It is to the west of Scat Ness and the village of Scatness, a headland on Mainland, an ...

, Little Holm,

Horse Holm Horse Island or Horse Holm and known locally as Da Holm, is one of the Shetland Islands. It lies about 2.3 km west of Sumburgh Head at the south tip of the Mainland, Shetland. In the Norn Language Norn is an extinct North Germanic lang ...

island and

Fair Isle Fair Isle (; sco, Fair Isle; non, Friðarey; gd, Fara) is an island in Shetland, in northern Scotland. It lies about halfway between mainland Shetland and Orkney. It is known for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting. Th ...

. Dunrossness is associated with a number of eminent people, such as

Haldane Burgess James John (J.J.) Haldane Burgess (28 May 1862 – 16 January 1927) was a Shetland historian, poet, novelist, violinist, linguist and socialist, a noted figure in Shetland's cultural history. His published works include ''Rasmie's Büddie, So ...

, George Stewart, Sir Herbert J.C. Grierson, Jenny Gilbertson, Elizabeth Balneaves as well as that symbol of providence Betty Mouat. The author

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

visited Dunrossness in 1814 and wrote the novel ''The Pirate'', which is set mostly in the Parish.

Robert Stevenson Robert Stevenson may refer to: * Robert Stevenson (actor and politician) (1915–1975), American actor and politician * Robert Stevenson (civil engineer) (1772–1850), Scottish lighthouse engineer * Robert Stevenson (director) (1905–1986), Engl ...

built Shetland's first lighthouse at Sumburgh Head in 1821, and his son

Thomas Stevenson Thomas Stevenson PRSE MInstCE FRSSA FSAScot (22 July 1818 – 8 May 1887) was a pioneering Scottish civil engineer, lighthouse designer and meteorologist, who designed over thirty lighthouses in and around Scotland, as well as the Stevenson sc ...

and his grandson, the author

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

, visited the Shetland lighthouses and Fair Isle in 1870. Dunrossness had 1,505 sites of archaeological interest in 2016, 181 of them scheduled (i.e. nationally important). For example,

Jarlshof Jarlshof ( ) is the best-known prehistoric archaeological site in Shetland, Scotland. It lies in Sumburgh, Mainland, Shetland and has been described as "one of the most remarkable archaeological sites ever excavated in the British Isles". It con ...

, perhaps the best known prehistoric archaeological site in Shetland and

Old Scatness Old Scatness is an archeological site on the Ness of Burgi, near the village of Scatness, parish of Dunrossness in the south end of Mainland, Shetland, near Sumburgh Airport and consists of medieval, Viking, Pictish, and Iron Age remains. It h ...

(which has

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

Pictish Pictish is the extinct language, extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited num ...

, and

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

remains) both lie within the parish of Dunrossness. Another example is the lost township of Broo (other spellings include Brew and Brow) near Quendale Beach. Broo was headed by the wealthy Sinclair family and was inhabited until probably the last decades of the 17th century when the buildings were covered with up to two metres of sand and abandoned. These have been excavated since 1997. Quendale beach was the site of the largest whale-kill ever recorded in Shetland in 1845 when 1,540

Long-finned Pilot Whales The long-finned pilot whale (''Globicephala melas'') is a large species of oceanic dolphin. It shares the genus '' Globicephala'' with the short-finned pilot whale (''Globicephala macrorhynchus''). Long-finned pilot whales are known as such bec ...

were driven ashore. In 1993 the oil tanker MV ''Braer'' ran aground on Garths Ness in Dunrossness releasing 85,000 tons of crude oil one of the worst oil spills in Shetland's history.

References

* *

Sources

* This article is based on http://shetlopedia.com/Dunrossness a GFDL wiki. Parishes of Shetland Fair Isle Mainland, Shetland {{Shetland-geo-stub