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Publication Account
Date 1997
Event ID 1017007
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017007
Bressay is yet another island dominated by a hill named the Ward, suggesting that it was used in Norse times as a hill on which beacons might be lit to warn of enemy movements. The lighthouse guards the southern entrance to Bressay Sound in much the same way that the broch of Mousa to the south guarded Mousa Sound some two thousand years ago. The north end of the Sound is protected by the lighthouse on Easter Rova Head on the mainland north of Lerwick. Designed by David and Thomas Stevenson and built during 1856-8, the lighthouse tower has a corbelled parapet and a cupola lantern. There are two fine ranges of keepers' quarters, and the station was equipped with a fog horn.
The road ends at Kirkabister Ness, but from here it is possible to walk south-eastwards along the coast to the Bard, where a 6-inch gun on its mounting survives from the defences of the First World War (HU 516357 [ HU53NW 11]).
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Shetland' (1997).
