Unst, Baliasta, Old Unst Church And Churchyard With Memorial Enclosures
Burial Enclosure (Period Unassigned), Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (18th Century), Churchyard (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Unst, Baliasta, Old Unst Church And Churchyard With Memorial Enclosures
Classification Burial Enclosure (Period Unassigned), Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (18th Century), Churchyard (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Old Unst Kirk; Scafield; Baliasta, Old Unst Kirk (Church Of Scotland), Including Memorial Enclosures, Kirkyard Wall And Gatepiers
Canmore ID 93
Site Number HP60NW 10
NGR HP 60256 09582
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/93
- Council Shetland Islands
- Parish Unst
- Former Region Shetland Islands Area
- Former District Shetland
- Former County Shetland
Baliasta (St John), Shetland, hogback/coped recumbent
Measurements: L 1.32m, W 0.32m +, H 0.14m +
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: HU 6082 9852
Present location: in the churchyard wall north of the church, in re-use upside down as a step in the stile through the wall.
Evidence for discovery:
Present condition: worn.
Description
This recumbent slab has a distinctly curved profile and a flat-topped ridge, and it appears to be a hybrid between a late undecorated hogback graveslab and a coped graveslab.
Date: twelfth century.
References: Scott & Ritchie 2009, no 127.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
HP60NW 10 60256 09582
Cemetery [NAT]
Remains of Church (1738) [NAT]
OS (GIS) MasterMap, June 2010.
The old parish church erected in 1738 and abandoned in 1828. The ruin is well-preserved and the interior is used as a burying place. The attached burial ground serves the district.
Name Book 1878
Publication Account (1997)
This substantial ruin was the former parish church, and it is clear from the mound on which it stands that it was built on the site of an earlier medieval church. Balliasta, Norwick and Lund were the three original parish churches of the island, but only Balliasta was demolished and rebuilt in the 18th century. The church has been much altered over the years. It is a simple rectangular building, which was extended at the east end, re-using in original doorway. The inside face of the wall shows holes for timber hoists, which suggests that there was once a wooden gallery and explains the fact that there are windows at two levels. One of the lower windows in each of the north and south walls has been extended to ground level in order to act as a doorway to the burial lairs that were established within the ruined church. There are memorials of the Edmondston family of Buness belonging to the 19th and 20th centuries. A low opening at the east end of the north wall may have given lepers the chance of benefitting from services.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Shetland’, (1997).
