Book Review – The Sandness Story
Sandness is the most westerly frontier of Mainland Shetland. It has the distinct feeling of being an island rather than part of the Mainland due to its relative geographical isolation from Lerwick. The boundaries of Sandness are clear and the community has the same tight-knit feel that you would expect to find on any of the outlying islands, where a bond of community exists that has, in many ways, been lost from the rest of Mainland Shetland.
Ian Tait describes Sandness’ position well in the book's foreword, stating that:
“To most Shetlanders a trip to the place is a bit of an excursion, and Sandness has much of the aspect of one of our off-lying isles.”
The Sandness Story, published in 2021 by the Sandness History Group, tells the story of this remarkable community, remote by road from the rest of Shetland but intrinsically connected by old routes to the communities of Waas, West Burrafirth, Voe, Brae and Eshaness.
This book gripped me from the foreword; a carefully constructed narrative that immediately puts the reader in the right place both presently, and historically, to view the story of Sandness.
We’re reminded from the offset not to consider Sandness from a modern perspective – from the road – but a historic one, that places Sandness in the centre of St Magnus Bay with strong links to the fishing station at Stenness and the community in Hillswick. Remember, the road to Sandness that we traverse today was only completed in 1888, and that, for 5,000 years before this, people generally arrived by sea.
I was excited to read this book as I’ve got family links with Sandness too. My great grandad, Peter Jamieson, was born at Melby in 1905. He later married my great grandmother, Grandmam, before moving to Voe where they raised their family, including my grandmother, Beth.
I wrote about Grandmam's side of my family in a blog for Remembrance Day, where I shared a recipe for trench cake.
This book resonated with me as I spent a good part of my youth growing up not far from Sandness. We stayed for several very happy years of childhood at Stennestwatt in Waas, just a few short miles over the hills from Sandness. In fact, an early memory involves being at the peat hill over the hill from our house and we, as young children of about seven or eight, decided to walk to Sandness for ice cream. It was further than we anticipated and mam was worried sick when we eventually called from a phone box in Sandness looking for a lift home.
We frequently met up with the Sandness bairns for annual sports days and such like, so I particularly enjoyed Fiona Sinclair’s reminiscences about Sandness school life, which took me right back to my early school days in the early 1990s at Happyhansel School in Waas. And, because it gave me all the feelings of nostalgia, I’ll share her words with you too:
Another book that I absolutely loved – and if you’re a romantic at heart, you’ll love it too, is Shetland: A Love Story. This is the true story of the courtship between schoolteacher Robert Jamieson and his sweetheart, Barbara Laing. Their romance took place in the mid-19th century, almost entirely by letter, and paints a clear picture of life – and love – in 19th century Shetland.
Like other rural communities, Sandness has faced its fair share of problems over the years with a dwindling population and the threat of school closure, etc. The community that has been served by as many as six shops for generations finally saw the door close on the last shop, meaning that for the people of Sandness, the closest shop was an eight-mile drive to Waas, following the twisting and turning single carriageway roads that serve these communities.
According to the Census returns, 659 people lived in Sandness in 1871 compared to 163 today – which is still 30 more than there were in 1971.
The community is home to Shetland’s only spinning mill which opened in 1981, providing much-needed jobs and security for the population and undoubtedly slowing the population decline that had been so marked since the end of the Second World War.
Sandness is somewhat an oddity. It’s part of the mainland, but it has that feeling, as Ian Tait says, of being an island without a ferry. After the long drive, passing small lochs and open moorland, Sandness opens out like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon; green and lush, in stark contrast to the hills surrounding it.
For this reason, the community has developed a strong and distinctive personality, and a real sense of pride still resides in this westernmost corner of Shetland. This is clear in the book – the fact that the history group is so totally invested in preserving and sharing their heritage is evident in this beautiful publication.
I was worried that the book would be a stuffy monologue of dates and events that have loosely shaped the area, but it was anything but that. It was written with love, attention to detail, and, importantly, the diversity of voices from within this resilient community, which gives the reader depth, meaning, and understanding.
If you are visiting Shetland and want to explore some of the West Mainland’s sites, you may enjoy the following walks:
Life in Sandness – as in most of Shetland – wasn’t easy, and we often fall into the trap of glorifying the past in reminiscences about whitewashed crofthouses with hens around the door and a peat fire smoking gently into the late summer evening as the laverock sings overhead. This book doesn’t do that. Yes, there are reminiscences and regrets about what’s been lost along the way, but it also speaks about the hard truths of life in 19th century Shetland. None speaks more of this hardship and abject poverty than the story of the woman who was more or less eaten alive by lice in her filthy hovel of a home.
Much of what’s covered in the book, the crofting and fishing lives of people in the past, can be applied to Shetland as a whole. The story of Sandness is the story of Shetland, and for all that it focuses on one small corner; the experiences were shared by those from every district of the islands.
This book, which is well-researched, engagingly written and lovingly retold, brings us the voices from the past. It’s not just the story of Sandness but the story of Shetland’s rural society as a whole. The spotlight of this book shines on Sandness, but they allow the reader a deeper understanding of Shetland’s past society as a whole.
For a look at Lerwick in the past, these books are a must-read:
Old Lerwick by Douglas Sinclair
In Days Gone By by Charlie Simpson
Happy reading!
Until next time,
