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Unst, Gletna Kirk
Building (Post Medieval), Chapel (Medieval)(Possible)
Site Name Unst, Gletna Kirk
Classification Building (Post Medieval), Chapel (Medieval)(Possible)
Canmore ID 63
Site Number HP50SE 5
NGR HP 59232 02059
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/63
- Council Shetland Islands
- Parish Unst
- Former Region Shetland Islands Area
- Former District Shetland
- Former County Shetland
HP50SE 5 5922 0206.
(HP 5922 0208) Gletna Kirk (NR) (In Ruins). Burial Ground (NR).
OS 6" map, Shetland, 2nd ed., (1900).
The ruin of an old church, supposed to be pre-Reformation, 'repaired at several times and used for penning cattle.'
It is also known as the 'Old Kirk'. 'Glet' meaning 'old'.
A burial ground, considered to be of great antiquity, but now disused, lies on the north side of the building and is enclosed by a decayed stone wall.
Name Book 1878
The remains of an oblong structure measuring externally 61'5" E-W by 24' 5" N-S. The walls, which are about 3' thick, and have been built of large boulders without mortar, are now reduced to their lowest courses. Internally the building has been divided by a transverse partition 3'8" wide, the west compartment being 24' 3" long. An enclosure can be traced on the north.
The National Musueum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) possesses a collection of unglazed pottery from this ruin (PSAS 1876) which may indicate its having been domestic in character.
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1876; RCAHMS 1946
It cannot be ascertained whether Gletna Kirk, as described by the RCAHMS, was a kirk, or merely a substantial croft-house, but on the evidence of enclosures attached to the N and S of the building, old field enclosures similar to others in the area, it seems likely that it was a crofthouse. Name still known.
Revised at 1/10,000.
Visited by OS (NKB) 5 May 1969.
Field Visit (24 April 2010 - 1 May 2010)
The building is depicted as a ruin on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Shetland 1882, Sheet VIII), when the remains of an enclosure, identified at the time as a burial ground, were still to be seen immediately to the N.
Visited by RCAHMS (DCC) 24 April -1 May 2010.
