Publication Account
Date 1997
Event ID 1017033
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017033
Also known as Finnigirt, the old name was Finnigord, the Finns' dyke, and the various folk myths attached to it suggest that it was built in prehistoric times as a land division. It winds across from the Houbie area on the south coast to the cliffs of East Neep on the north coast, passing west of the summit of Yord Hill, and thus divides the island into two roughly equal parts. Its southern end is destroyed, but it is well preserved on the open moorland north of the modern airstrip and especially on the western and northern flanks of Yord Hill. It was built of large slabs and boulders set on end, and it was origina lly about a metre wide.
At HU 618928 south of Yord Hill, there is a circle of large boulders known as Hjaltadans. The circle is about 11m in diameter, with a earthen circle within it and two upright stones at the centre. It is probably a burial place of the third millennium BC, and its design relates it to the Rounds of Tivla on Unst (see under no.68).
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Shetland’, (1997).
