DAVID OAKES – IMAGES.

JARLSHOF, Sumburgh, SHETLAND

The sky was blue… but the air cold on this peninsula of land at Sumburgh, in the Shetlands. Looking down into one of many dwellings in this long established settlement that is Jarlshof. Dating back to Neolithic times, 2700BC. It has provide a rich treasure of Bronze and Iron age artifacts through to later Norse Settlements.

It is a large site. Many houses, broch’s and defensive buildings all made of stone and insulated with grass sods. It is remarkable well preserved, offering a real insight into how all these different generations lived at Jarlshof in a hostile environment. Sand would build up, entering and covering early houses. These were abandoned, then new houses being built directly above.

It is reckoned that Jarlshof was still inhabited up to circa 1600AD. The Shetlands were once under Norway’s stewardship… but in the 1469 it became part of Scotland. Then in the 1500’s a new Laird was not good, a tyrant, to people of Shetland and Orkney and people abandoned the site. Sand drifted in and over the settlement and it became hidden like a sand dune.

Then after storms, parts of the settlement were uncovered in the late 1800s. There then followed archaeological excavations to bring the site back to the light of day once again. Now that is a ‘potted history’. Interested in learning more its worth Googling…but even better to visit if you can.