Churches in Shetland. These are all Chancel Churches except Culbinsbrough, which is Cruciform.
Canons Ashby, Feb. 21, 1868.
Sir,—Last year you inserted in the Orcadian accounts by me of some of the ruined churches in Orkney; I now send you accounts of some of those in Shetland. Every year destroys some portion of these ruins, and of the most complete in Shetland a considerable portion has fallen since I made the plans of it in 1855. Though the owners of these humble ruins do not value them, they have a value with historians and antiquaries as examples of the ecclesiastical architecture of the North in its least elaborate state, and evidences of the religious condition of the islands in past times. We find no St. Magnus and no Egilsey in Shetland; but still the ruins which exist there are worthy of record.
The number of churches which once existed in Shetland is extraordinary. For instance, Unst, which is about 6 miles by 3 miles, had at least twenty-four. Of most of the Shetland churches every trace but a name or a tradition is gone; of others only a heap of stones remains; of others a few fragments of wall enable us to make approximate plans, and one only is tolerably complete. A little labour with pick and spade would enable us, in many instances, to determine more about them than is possible in their present state. No people ought to be more impressed with religion and the uncertainty of life than the Shetlanders. The effects of the storms on sea and land, the terrible tideways among the islands, and the barren nature and exposed position of much of the land, make life a continued struggle for safety or for food. Doubtless the tradition concerning nearly every church was true of some—that they were built as thankofferings for escape from an ocean grave. The churches of which I send an account are Culbinsbrough, Bressay, Noss, West Sandwick, Yell, the Ness (Yell), Uya, and Norwick, Haroldswick, Kirkaby, and Colvidale, all in Unst.
I have to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. J. T. Irvine, formerly of Yell, and of Mr. Sandison of Uya, and to thank many friends in Shetland for hospitality and information.—I remain, your obedient servant,
H. Dryden.
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