Main Page

Lunna Kirk

Lunna Kirk, St Margaret's Church, is known as "The ancient kirk of Lunna".
It is the oldest church in Shetland that is still in regular use.
The present church was built by the fourth Hunter of Lunna in 1753, but it incorporates parts of an earlier building that goes back to pre-Reformation days. It was the Hunter family mausoleum which exsisted on the site before the church was built. Two 17th. century graveslabs from the mausoleum are nowadays incorporated into the walls of the porch.

The Kirk measures 34 x 17 foot, internal dimensions, with walls up to 3 foot thick, and with buttresses on the east side. Most of the construction is massive volcanic whinstone blocks from nearby, with a few sandstone details.

Before there was a road to Lunna Kirk, many of the congregation would travel there by boat. On the rocks below the Kirk, a ring remains where the boats would be tied up.

For more information and pictures of Lunna Kirk, Click Here.

• 2003 - An area of the south Mainland, including Channerwick and Sandwick suffered from serious flash floods.
• 1991 - Fiddler Tom Anderson died.
• 1989 - Shetland Catch Factory officially opened.
• 1979 - Ve Skerries Lighthouse first lit.
• 1954 - National Trust buys Fair Isle from George Waterston.
• 1932 - Lerwick first lit by electricity.
• 1914 - Oceanic wrecked on Shaalds of Foula
• 1913 - Lerwick Picture Palace, later to be named The North Star opened.
• 1588 - El Gran Grifon, a Spanish Armada store ship, wrecked on Fair Isle.

Click Map To Enlarge

Explore Shetland step by step
Make your choice from all our Shetland Settlements.
Or, visit our modern and ancient "capitals" Lerwick and Scalloway.
No visit to Shetland is complete without taking a ferry to visit one of the Outer Isles.

When rambling through Shetland
Look out for the historical attractions and local museums, or discover our naturally beautiful landscapes and our Voes, Firths, and Bays.

To get a taste of what you will see
Have a browse through our "picture galleries".

Looking for some indoor leisure activities?
Then join in and do some sports in one of our fine Leisure Centres: Go for a swim, try your skills in indoor bowling – or just watch the competing folks.
Or for something more leisurely take a look around our pubs and bars

Further advice for visitors to Shetland
Can be found by visiting our Tourism Pages

Lone sheep Picture by: Jonny McIntosh

Shetland's best values: The people!
Here you can meet some of those who represent our community as well as some of the incoming folks and other native Shetlanders of the past.

Present Day Shetland
is a vibrant community based both in,

• a great variety of businesses representing traditional but still important industries like fishery to the spearheads active in the renewable energies sector and
• the active life in our communities, our schools and the modern colleges which play a major role in our social and cultural life.

Shetland Heritage
is represented by far more than our famous archaeological monuments such as Jarlshof and the Broch of Mousa.
Most importantly, it is a living heritage, living in our arts, crafts, music and festivals, as well as the continuation of traditional Shetland industries such as fishing, crofting, and knitwear.

Filska is a Shetland band whose roots spring from traditional Shetland fiddle music.
The three girls; Jenna, Bethany, and Gemma, started playing at local venues from an early age, accompanied by Jenna and Bethany's mother on the piano. During their formative years the girls were taught fiddle by the late Dr. Tom Anderson MBE, and the late Willie Hunter, one of Shetland's most noted fiddlers.
Following the success, in 1995, of their first album the girls were invited to perform at festivals in Scotland, and for a TV series "Ceol na fidhle".
Their second album in 1998 was recorded by Shetland Guitarist/Singer, and recording engineer, Andrew Tulloch, son of local pianist Violet Tulloch. Andrew soon joined the band, and with the addition of his guitar and vocals the band gained a wider audience.
Since then Filska has performed in many countries with continued success.
For more information on Filska, Click Here.

Derick Herning, who was born in Fife, is a Lerwick-based multi-linguist and long-term teacher of languages at the Anderson High School. Herning is the author of Jarm an Jeemsie, published by The Shetland Times in 1984, a translation into Shetlandic of Wilhelm Busch's classic German children's book, 'Max und Moritz', which becomes in his hands a hilarious Shetlandic tale, and demonstrates Herning's skill not just as a linguist, but also as a versifier.