The Pool of Virkie is a tidal lagoon in the parish of

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 ...

, south Mainland, Shetland. Pool of Virkie - geograph

History

The Pool of Virkie, during the late 15th and early 16th centuries, when it was much deeper than it is today, became the main

Hanseatic The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=German language, Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Norther ...

trading centre for the south end of Shetland. Because of this trade it became known as the Dutch Pool. This name was because locals pronounced ''Deutsch'' as Dutch. The actual Dutch visitors were called Hollanders.

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

stones are to be found round the shores of the Pool and as flint does not occur naturally in Shetland, it is assumed these are discarded ballast stones from the continental boats. At the end of the 16th century the Pool silted up and became much as it is today, with the only anchorage available towards the east end or in the Virkie Marina which was formed in the 1980s.

Wildlife

Because of the large area exposed by the ebb tide, the Pool of Virkie has become an important site for bird watching in the South Mainland. It adjoins Sumburgh Airport

References

Sources

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External links

* Birdwatching sites in Scotland Landforms of Shetland Bodies of water of Scotland

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 ...

Tourist attractions in Shetland {{Shetland-geo-stub