Baltasound
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Baltasound | |
|---|---|
 At the main gate of Buness, Baltasound | |
  Baltasound Location within Shetland | |
| OS grid reference | HP620089 |
| Civil parish | |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SHETLAND |
| Postcode district | ZE2 |
| Dialling code | 01957 |
| Police | Scotland |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
Baltasound (or Baltasund[citation needed]) is the largest settlement on the island of Unst in Shetland, Scotland. It comes from the Old Norse man's name Balti (Baltisund)[citation needed]. Unst is the most northerly inhabited island in the United Kingdom. The village lies halfway along the island's east coast on a sheltered bay called Balta Sound.
Baltasound was formerly the most important herring port in Shetland. In 1902 its catch exceeded that of the Shetland capital Lerwick. The herring trade declined rapidly after 1905 but the physical remains of the herring boom remained long after.[1]
Baltasound was the home of the noted Victorian botanist Thomas Edmondston, who was born at Buness House where his uncle, also called Thomas, was the laird. A memorial stone erected outside the house by the elder Thomas Edmondston commemorates scientific studies undertaken there by the French physicist Jean-Baptiste Biot.[2]
James Ingram (1776-1879)) was a prominent and influential minister in the parishes of Fetlar and Unst.
Sinclair Ferguson theologian and academic, was the minister of St. John's, Baltasound for 10 years, starting in 1971.
Baltasound can also lay claim to the most northerly "wood" in the British Isles, although it is not very substantial.[3]
Many of Baltasound's current amenities hold the record for the most northerly in the UK:
- Airport - Unst/Baltasound Airport - Airport code UNT, runway length 2,099 feet (640 m).,[4] currently only used by emergency services.
- Leisure centre
- School - Baltasound Junior High School[5]
- Hotel - The Baltasound Hotel[6]
- Post office - Baltasound Post Office is the most northerly post office in the United Kingdom. For many years, this record was held by the post office at Haroldswick until it closed down in 1999.[7]
- The Unst Bus Shelter, known locally as "Bobby's Bus Shelter", is a famous bus shelter and bus stop near the village. It is maintained by the Shetland Islands Council. The bus stop is also the northernmost in the UK.
A 2 foot 6 inch gauge railway was built from the Chromite quarries at Hagdale to Baltasound in 1907 to boost the Chromate industry on the island. Although the railway did not operate a passenger service, it helped the village economically and financially. Like other narrow gauge railways in the Shetland Islands, it did not survive.
Fishing
The distance from the village to the open sea is about six kilometres. The OS Map of Baltasound from 1902 [8] shows that at that time there were a large number of fish curing stations in the inner part of the sound. There was also a fish oil factory. In 1901 almost ten thousand fishermen and shore workers came to Balta Sund, at a time when its off-season population numbered 500. The weight and value of fish landed peaked in 1905, but subsequently went into decline, as the newly adpoted steam drifters, which came to dominate the Shetland fishery, could make their way to Lerwick and land their catch there [9]:
