Tingwall, ( non, Þingvǫllr = Field of the

Thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuses ...

assembly) is a parish in

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 ...

. Located mostly 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 ...

, the centre lies about 2 miles north of

Scalloway Scalloway ( non, Skálavágr, "bay with the large house(s)") is the largest settlement on the west coast of the Mainland, the largest island of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. The village had a population of roughly 900, at the 2011 census. No ...

Tingwall Airport Tingwall Airport , also known as Lerwick/Tingwall Airport, is located in the Tingwall valley, near the village of Gott, northwest of Lerwick in Mainland, Shetland, Scotland. Although it is the nearest airport to Lerwick, it is not Shetland's ...

is located in the village.

Parish

Tingwall parish includes the settlements of Scalloway, Whiteness,

Veensgarth Veensgarth ( non, Vikingsgarðr, Viking farm, or ''Vingarðr'', Meadow Farm), is a village in the Tingwall valley west of Lerwick on Mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not includ ...

and Gott, and the Vallafield housing estate. The centre of the parish was the Tingwall Kirk. It comprehends a section of Mainland, stretching from the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

at Scalloway, to the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

at Rova Head and includes the formerly inhabited islands of

Hildasay Hildasay ( sco, Hildasay; non, Hildisey) (from the Old Norse masculine name ''Hildir'' with ''ey'' "island"), also known as Hildisay, is an uninhabited island off the west coast of the Shetland Mainland. Geography and geology Hildasay has a ...

, Langa,

Linga A lingam ( sa, लिङ्ग , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. It is typically the primary ''murti'' or devotional im ...

, Papa and

Oxna Oxna is one of the Scalloway Islands, lying north west of Burra in Shetland, Scotland. Oxna has an area of . The island has been uninhabited since the First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as W ...

. 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

to the south end of Lax Firth. It is diversified by the lochs of Tingwall, Girlsta,

Asta The General Students' Committee (German: Allgemeiner Studierendenausschuss) or AStA, is the acting executive board and the external representing agency of the (constituted) student body at universities in most German states. It is therefore consid ...

, Strom and some others. It is so indented by the sea as to contain no point farther than from it. Measured across marine intersections, it has a length of about , and a maximum breadth of .

History

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. 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 Egilsay (, sco, Egilsay) is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, lying east of Rousay. The island is largely farmland and is known for its corncrakes and St Magnus Church, dedicated or re-dedicated to Saint Magnus, who was killed on the is ...

, Orkney. There are a number of ancient and historical monuments in Tingwall, including a standing stone 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

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 The tufted duck or tufted pochard (''Aythya fuligula'') is a small diving duck with a population of close to one million birds, found in northern Eurasia. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek '' aithuia'', an unidentified seabird ment ...

red-breasted merganser The red-breasted merganser (''Mergus serrator'') is a diving duck, one of the sawbills. The genus name is a Latin word used by Pliny and other Roman authors to refer to an unspecified waterbird, and ''serrator'' is a sawyer from Latin ''serra'', ...

and

common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

and

black-headed gull The black-headed gull (''Chroicocephalus ridibundus'') is a small gull that breeds in much of the Palearctic including Europe and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters further south, but some birds res ...

frequent the loch, which is also home to Shetland's only

mute swan The mute swan (''Cygnus olor'') is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurosiberia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home ...

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

References

Other sources

* The original article is based o
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

External links