Sandness
Sandness is a headland, village and district in the west of Mainland, Shetland. The name is pronounced Sanness; "d" is not pronounced locally.
The headland flanks the south side of Papa Sound near Papa Stour leading into St Magnus Bay. It abuts Walls to the south, and with Walls, Foula and Papa Stour it forms a joint parish; Walls and Sandness. The land itself is fairly fertile for Shetland and runs from Bousta to Huxter, with Norby and Melby in the middle.
The 817 feet summit of Sandness Hill is south of the village.
Sandness bears the traces of habited from ancient time to modern: a fort at Garth, a broch at Huxter and a pre-Reformation chapel at Norby.
A school stands at Cruisdale, no longer open. It was built after a tireless campaign by one of the parish's most remarkable characters, Robert Jamieson (1827-1899). In the campaign he described his home as "the prettiest parish in Shetland". The school in Sandness educated some ten pupils, with only a dining room, classroom, gym, and head teacher office.
References
- The Gazetteer of Scotland (Wilson, Rev. John, 1882)
- Location map: 60.29944 -1.65278
