Busta
Standing Stone (Prehistoric)
Site Name Busta
Classification Standing Stone (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Busta Voe
Canmore ID 797
Site Number HU36NW 5
NGR HU 3488 6739
NGR Description HU 3487 6738 and HU 3488 6738
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/797
- Council Shetland Islands
- Parish Delting
- Former Region Shetland Islands Area
- Former District Shetland
- Former County Shetland
HU36NW 5 3487 6738 to 3488 6738.
( HU 3487 6739 ) Stone (T.I.)
O.S. 1:10,000 1973.
Standing Stone, granite, roughly square in section, with sides varying from 4' to 6' in width, and with a maximum height of 10'6". Around the base is a packing of small stones.
A smaller stone, also of granite, which lies 26' to the east and has a present height of 3'5", a width of 3'3" and a length of 4'3" may be a'standing'stone which has fallen on its side.
RCAHMS 1946. Visited 1930.
Fully described by RCAHM.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS(WDJ) 31st May 1968.
Field Visit (11 July 1934)
Standing Stone, Busta. This imposing granite monolith (Fig. 525, SH 44), which must be fully twenty tons in weight, stands on the W cliff of Busta Voe, about 600 yds NNE of the pier at Busta. It is roughly square in section, the sides varying from 4 to 6 ft in width, and its greatest height is 10 ft 6 in. Around the base is a packing of small stones. A smaller stone, also of granite, which lies 26 ft farther E and has a present height of 3 ft 5 in, a width of 3 ft 3 in, and a length of 4 ft 3 in, may be a standing stone that has fallen on its side.
RCAHMS 1946, visited 11 July 1930.
OS map: xxix ("Stone").
Publication Account (1997)
This is a very impressive standing stone in a spectacular situation overlooking Busta Voe (colour photograph on p.32). A stout monolith of granite which is thought to weigh some 20 tons, this stone must have required considerable labour and effort to erect, and it is interesting to see the top layer of stones used to wedge it into position in its pit. Immediately to the north-east there is another smaller stone, a squat triangular block,which must have been brought deliberately to this spot. Popular tradition has it that the larger stone was thrown here by the Devil from some hill in Northmavine.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Shetland’, (1997).