Northmavine in the Shetland Islands

Eshaness Cliffs Click to enlarge

The land north, of Mavis Grind, composed mainly of red granite and diorite, a place both wild and glorious, with some of the best scenery in Shetland, is known as Northmavine. It is the area in which my lighthouse, Eshaness is located.

Mavis Grind - gate of the narrow isthmus - is the 100 yard strip of land separating the Atlantic Ocean from the North Sea. Until the 1950s fishermen carried boats across Mavis Grind as a short cut between fishing grounds, and many folk try tossing a stone from ocean to sea.

At the head of the voe, before entering Hillswick is Upper Urafirth, where Almara offers a choice of accommodation. The Almara web site is has the best selection of pictures of Northmavine.

The village of Hillswick is dominated by the 3 crown, St Magnus Hotel, a wooden building, prefabricated in Norway, for use at the Great Exhibition in Glasgow in 1896. It was purchased by the North of Scotland Orkney and Shetland Steam Navigation Company, and re-erected in Hillswick in 1902. A small herd of wild Shetland ponies frequent the St Magnus front garden

Shetland's only Wildlife Sanctuary is based at the Booth in Hillswick. The Booth has been a hive of industry for more than three centuries. The first official records go back to 1698 when Adolf Westermann, a merchant from Hamburg, Germany, registered the building as a böd, or trading post. It was here that all manner of goods were traded between the north European Hanseatic fleet and the local folk of Shetland. Trading, of one form or another, has been continuous at the Booth ever since those early days.

Hillswick has an interesting graveyard, a good beach and look for the tiny shell covered house as you wander through the village.

The road to Eshaness has much to offer, even from a car you can see many of the stacks and natural arches; it has a remote and rugged beauty and you can wander for hours along the cliffs, search the beaches for the spoils of the seas or explore the fishing stations of the past.

Hamnavoe was the home of John Williamson (1740-1804), better known as "Johnny Notions" who devised a serum to cure smallpox. He inoculated 3,000 people, and lost none. "Johnny Notions," a camping böd, at Hamnavoe, has been named after him.

Tangwick Haa, the 18th century manorhouse home of Capt Cheyne,

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