86. THE "HILL OF WITCHES", MAINLAND, SHETLAND ISLANDS, SCOTLAND, UK

 

The Loch of Tingwall photographed from the slopes of Tingwall Gallows Hill [in December, Latitude: 60°10'1.2"] (© Franco Pelliccioni) 

(...) Immediately after leaving the town of Scalloway, before reaching Weisdale Voe I would have flanked the Loch of Tingwall, a historical centre of the Viking age. Because the islet of Law Ting Holm, as the toponym of Norwegian origin indicates, was the place where once (...) Lawthing met to legislate and administer justice. 

[More or less corresponding to Icelandic Althing, the Assembly of Free Men. Also because only after 1611 the Scottish law will be adopted. Until then the sentences were issued, first by the Lawthing, then by the sheriff. 

Basically, based on the code (Lagabøtes landslov) issued in 1274 by Magnus Haakonsson VI of Norway (1238-1280), the "Defender of the Law" (...), which will apply it to all Norway, to the islands of Fær Øer and Shetland.]

While on the nearby Gallows Hill of Scalloway were executed those condemned to death.

[From 1603, at the beginning of the 18th century. 

In fact it seems that in the Shetlands there have been several Gallows Hills. Although the most important, perhaps because the last one to "work", was that of Scalloway. 

Indeed, a research of the University of Vienna identified 15 sites in the archipelago, including the Tingwall Gallows Hill. 

Samuel Hibbert, for example, in his description of the Shetland Islands of 1822, points out that Gallow Hill (Yell) was "a place of occasional execution in the country, during the oppressive period in which feudalism exercised its rule without law" (...)]

Two witches, Barbara Tulloch and her daughter Ellen King, were the last to be burned at the stake around 1690.

[In modern Scotland the judicial proceedings concerning witchcraft crimes were held between the beginning of the sixteenth and the middle of the eighteenth century. Especially after the entry into force of the Witchcraft Act (1563). It is estimated that during this period more than 1,500 people were executed, first strangling and, then, burning them.] 

In this regard, however, it should be emphasized that the court records of the time show several executions, even not concerning the crime of witchcraft.

In 1615 the executioner hanged thieves Christopher Esplein, Bothuel “Buttie” Erasmussone and Iver Manssone. 

The following year (1616), three women and one man are found guilty of witchcraft, contact with the devil and thievery. The women (Katherine Jonesdochter, Jonka Dyneis, Barbaray Scord) are strangled and burned,

[Verdict: “to be tane by the lockmane to the place of execution abone Berrie useit and wount efter none and thair to be wirryet at ane staik quhill they be dead and thairefter to be brunt in ashes…”] while Robert Boundson is hanged 

[Verdict: “To be taken to the same place and hangit to the death upoun the geibitt for certane poyntis of thift and commone bruit thereof”]. 

In 1618 William Sutherland is beheaded in front of the castle of Scalloway (murder) [ Verdict: “To the west end of the gairdin and thair his head to be dung fra his shoulders be the maiden.”]. 

In the same year was strangled and then burned on the hill John Thompson (bestiality) [Verdict: “To be taken by the lockman to the Gallow Hill and there with his mear to be wirried at ane staik to the daith and brunt in ashes”]. 

In 1625 Robert Ingsetter was hanged on the hill, while Marioun Thomasdochter was thrown from a cliff (thievery) 

[Verdict: “To be taken by the lockman and hir hand bound behind hir back to the point of Luckymenis Ness and thair cassing over the craig in the sea and drowned to the death.”]. 

In 1628, on the Scalloway Gallows Hill, Mans Christophersson and William Cogill were sent to the gallow. 

[Verdict: “To be taken by the lockman, his [their] hands bund behind his [their] back, to the Gallow Hill, the place of execution, and there hanged”]. 

In 1644 the witches Marion Peebles (aka Pardone) and Margaret Guthramdaughter were first strangled, then burned at two in the afternoon: "to be taken brought to the place of execution to the Hill of Berrie and there wyryt at ane stak and brunt in ashes betwix and 2 aftirnoone ". 

The witches Helen Stewart and her mother are strangled and burned (we do not know the locality) around 1675, while in the same year in Scalloway burned at the stake Luggie (nickname) 

[“A wizzard accused and execute in Shetland, before named, for witchcraft several years ago, called Luggie, to a nick-name, who being a 􀏔isher, had a trick at any time, when hungry at sea, to cast out his line, and would out of Neptuns lowest kitching, bring cliverly up ish well boiled and roasted. And his comerades by a natural courage, would make a merry meal thereof, not questioning who was cook. He had another piece of art, at any time in the year, or in great storms, to go up to an high hill near his own house, whereupon there was a deep pit, out of which, with his lines he drew up codlings, or keeling for his provision, which never man could do but himself. This story is true, being yet to be seen in the criminal books of that countrey”(...)]

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FROM: ULTIMA THULE. MEMORIES OF A WINTER STUDY JOURNEY TO THE SHETLAND ISLANDS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

STOPOVER IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND: DURHAM AND THE EXCURSION TO THE LAKE DISTRICT

Durham, "model" of Urban Geography; Warkworth, Lindisfarne and Durham; Durham Foundation; Sir Walter Scott, the Shetlands and Durham;From coal mines to university colleges;The excursion to Lake District

HISTORY OF SHETLANDS

The Picts, the Brochs, Jarlshof; Broch Clickhmin, Lerwick; Vikings, Norwegians, Danish-Norwegians, Scots; The archipelagos of the Shetlands and Orkneys offered under warranty to Scotland

LANGUAGE, BETWEEN ENGLISH AND NORN

Folklore; The Up-Helly-Aa

LINKS WITH NORWAY

ECONOMY

Agriculture; Breeding; Fishing and fish farming; Oil; Tourism

BIRTH (WITH ORIGINAL SIN) AND DEVELOPMENT OF LERWICK

Some significant urban development dates; The "original sin" of Lerwick: smuggling; The history of lodberries

MAINLAND

Lerwick; Scalloway; In the north of Mainland: The Gallows Hill (The "Hill of Witches"), Tingwall, Weisdale Voe, Esha Ness; In the south of Mainland

COLLECTIVE EXISTENTIAL CRISIS

FOUR CULTURAL REVOLUTIONS

First Revolution, 1886: The Crofters' Act;  Second Revolution, 1960: wool, knitwear, refrigerated fish, silver craftsmanship;  Third Revolution, 1971-1998: discovery and exploitation of oil and gas; Fourth Revolution, 1998-today: contraction of oil extraction, revival and development of traditional economic activities (crofting, breeding, fishing, fish farming), tourism; Oil, gas; Fishing and fish farming;  Cultivation, breeding, tourism

SMUGGLING AND PIRACY IN THE ARCHIPELAGO 

SHIPWRECKS

In Scotland; Protection of wrecks of historical importance; In the Shetlands; The ground stations of the haaf: Walls and Stenness (Mainland); Important" shipwrecks and wrecks protected by law: XVII-XVIII century; During the Great War; In the Second World War 

FAIR ISLE

1. The shipwreck of El Gran Grifón, 1588

2. Shipwrecks, 1868-1894

3. The “Year of the Disaster”, 1897

The background

The tragedy begins

The request for help

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

UK AUTHOR PAGE:

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amazon.com/author/francopelliccioni 

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32. MEMORIES OF A WINTER STUDY JOURNEY TO THE SHETLAND ISLANDS

East of the Esha Ness lighthouse: the northern cliffs [Mainland]

 Franco Pelliccioni

Pytheas "had heard that it is the most northerly of the British Isles, six days to the north of Britain and close almost one day only from the "Sea Ice", if it was not conceived as "Congealed Sea" (...) in which land and sea and everything floats, which is in a kind of jumble that holds all these things together, something that cannot be exceeded by men and ships (...) there is habitable land up to the "extreme parts around Thule".

   Pytheas is the Greek geographer, navigator and astronomer of Marseilles (then Massilia) who, at the end of the fourth century B.C., made his famous and adventurous journey to the European boreal lands. Up to what was defined as the island of Thule or Ultima Thule: "extreme inhabited and habitable region, beyond which it was the domain of the sea, the fog, the storms and the ice". According to some, Thule would be identifiable in the Shetland Islands. According to others, it could be Norway, or even Iceland. The great Ptolemy in his Geography of 150 A.D. is in favour of the Shetland Islands3, north of Scotland "and on the mainland of Eurasia, near the same latitude, the Hyperborean Mountains, from which the Volga (Rha) springs flow".

   I do not know if this northern archipelago is the Thule, more or less "Ultima", of the adventurous Greek. Undoubtedly for me, the island of Mainland represented the northernmost point touched in my life. Especially since the particular geo-astronomical aspect was immediately confirmed, if it was still needed, by the harsh winter climate. Connected by a frost so intense as to penetrate the bones. Often accompanied by impressive gusts of wind, suddenly able to push you. A worrying thing, indeed, especially when I went to admire the beautiful and impressive cliffs of the island overhanging the sea. So much to compel me, precautionary, to observe them from the edge, staying carefully "belly on the ground"...

   And to say that, the year after, not even nine months away, I would even have reached the closest point to the Magnetic Pole. In Resolute Bay (Lat 74 ° 41 'N), in the Canadian High Arctic, during my anthropological survey among the Eskimos (Inuit). Then, twenty years later, on two occasions, in the Norwegian Arctic Islands of Svalbard, I would have crossed that latitude. First in Longyearbyen (Lat 78 ° 13' N), the capital, afterwards in Ny-Ålesund (Lat 78 ° 55' N), the historic "King’s Bay", on the occasion of the inauguration of the Italian Station Airship Italia.

   Yet in 1982 I could feel more than satisfied with what, at the time, was my personal record. For the first time in my life I, who had carried out fieldworks only in tropical countries, could even think of finding myself more far north, than I really was. Like the numerous protagonists of the adventurous exploring and ethno-anthropological expeditions, that fascinated me so much as a boy.

   The idea of writing this book, making it available to a wider audience of readers, compared to those who had been able to read my articles on the subject, published in magazines and newspapers, came watching some episodes of: Shetland, a television series, produced by ITV for BBC Scotland. The protagonist was a police detective from Lerwick who, of course, successfully investigated the murders perpetrated in Mainland, the main island of the archipelago. Among other things, originally he was from Fair Island, the southernmost island, halfway between Shetland and Orkney.

   Unexpectedly I felt a strong sense of nostalgia, looking again on the screen that environment, so completely different from the Mediterranean. Almost always characterized by a chiaroscuro of unusual, albeit singular, beauty. Which, soon left aside, after a strong shower of rain. Leaving space to vivid colours, which paradoxically make their appearance, one by one. The majestic panoramas, the gigantic cliffs overlooking the sea, the low clouds, the decidedly subarctic atmosphere, reminded me that those islands could really represent, about 2,500 years ago, the last habitable land of the oecumene. Because, even at a not so excessive latitude, I could even have the good luck to admire, high in the night sky, the shattering and phantasmagorical Northern Lights of the Ultima Thule...

   That Nordic journey, carried out above all in a prohibitive season (December), would have been for me the very first approach to an ecological-cultural reality, radically different from all those that, until then, I knew (Sudan, Kenya, Mexico). That, the following year, with my survey among six Inuit communities of the Canadian Arctic, it would be strengthened. Since, in the mythical North West Passage, I would have gone even further north, not too far from the Magnetic Pole. As I have already mentioned...

   Among other things, in those Scottish islands the former Africanist, as I was, would "meet" the Vikings for the first time. An initial approach, which later should have been consolidated. Since the Shetlands unknowingly represented the first of many "steps" of my future wandering, on the trail of the so-called Viking “Overseas Movement”, which would lead me: still to the South-West (Orkney, Scotland and North-Eastern England, Outer Hebrides, Fær Øer, Dublin), to the North (Svalbard), to the West (Newfoundland, Iceland, Greenland, Labrador), to the South (Normandy), to the East (Russia).

   From the foundational point of view of the Maritime Communities, that later I would approach, the "Vikings" constituted only one of the different aspects, present in the whole picture, even if among the most important and adventurous. Thanks to that study trip or, if you like, reconnaissance, before to the Shetlands, then to the southern Orkneys, even if unintentionally would have been thrown the first seed of what later would be transformed into my North Atlantic Maritime Community Program.

   Communities that, even if spatially very distant from each other, have many common features. In fact, in addition to the presence of the Scandinavian raiders, who later became peaceful settlers, when we talk about North Atlantic Islands, we cannot fail to mention their geo-cultural isolation, sometimes even linguistic (for example: Fær Øer and Iceland). Again, from the glottological point of view, the islands can be "dichotomized", because it is possible to distinguish those of substantially Celtic-Gaelic derivation, from those of originally Scandinavian-Viking language and culture. Furthermore, their distance from the mother country must be underlined. So, the difficulty, or the total absence, of the maritime connections, especially in a more or less distant past. This often was added to the shortage or lack of essential supplies, especially food (in winter, but also in case of repeated and negative weather conditions). Capable of provoking recurrent collective existential crises. Enough to make even impossible to survive. So that, as extrema ratio, repeatedly they would resort to the evacuation of their inhabitants. As in the case of the Outer Hebrides (island of Mingulay), or of the far more remote island of the "bird-men" of St Kilda. Otherwise, it was thought seriously to clear all the islanders (Iceland).

   Based on the universe around, both terrestrial and marine, over time communities have sought to diversify their economies. So, even in consideration of the difficult conditions of the ocean waters, the islanders have often preferred to devote themselves to the hard cultivation of small plots of land (crofts), to obtain the necessary to survive. Rather than engaging in fishing. Which, when it happened, generally was only coastal, and faced with modest boats. Fact also due to the almost total lack of trees, which went hand in hand with the gradual loss, over time, of the indispensable nautical know-how. In fact, this was an insurmountable deterrent, which in most cases would have prevented them from going on to build vessels able to sail the ocean.

   Thus, from the historical-cultural point of view, the Shetland islanders have been defined as "peasants with a boats". Compared to their Orkney "neighbours", considered "fishermen who cultivate". Cultivations in both cases associated with sheep breeding, both for wool and for meat. To which in several archipelagos fowling is added, for the presence of innumerable sea birds, which nest in the islands, for meat and eggs. As well as for the feathers, essential for cushions and mattresses padding, etc. In the years, the Shetland communities have gone through genuine "Cultural Revolutions": four, from the middle of the nineteenth century to today! The penultimate of which, induced by the discovery and exploitation of oil in the North Sea, with the drilling platforms, saw me in 1982 as a witness.

   I have dedicated the main chapters to the archipelago as a whole, to Mainland, the largest of the islands, and to the capital Lerwick. I added another chapter on Fair Isle, which I only observed flying over it with the plane, which took me to Orkneys. Since it is an important island. Not just because the model of the famous Shetland pullover comes from there. But for the reason that it was the scene of an innumerable series of shipwrecks, both of foreign ships, such as El Gran Grifón, belonging to the Spanish Great Armada, and of many island boats, in the so-called Year of the Disaster! 

Engraving by Jules Noël, 1873, representing the shipwrecks of the Invincible Armada in 1588

   Naturally I have integrated and updated the statistical, economic and demographic data included in the volume. In order to offer the reader a picture, as complete as possible, of the "situation" of the archipelago, as it appears at the end of 2018.

   I also dedicated a chapter to Durham, where I made a "stopover", before continuing the journey to the islands. A city in the north of England, that shares many aspects of its history, both with the Viking World, and with the same Shetland.

From: ULTIMA THULE. MEMORIES OF A WINTER STUDY JOURNEY TO THE SHETLAND ISLANDS

E-Book, paper version in colour and black and white, 131 pages, 119 notes, 115 images, of which 90 in colour (55 belong to the Photo Gallery of the A.] 

https://www.amazon.it/dp/B07PJCFJL2

https://www.amazon.it/dp/1799117596

https://www.amazon.it/dp/1094776688

PREFACE 

INTRODUCTION 

STOPOVER IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND: DURHAM AND THE EXCURSION TO THE LAKE DISTRICT 

Durham, "model" of Urban Geography 

Warkworth, Lindisfarne and Durham 

Durham Foundation 

Sir Walter Scott, the Shetlands and Durham 

From coal mines to university colleges 

The excursion to Lake District 

HISTORY OF SHETLANDS 

The Picts, the Brochs, Jarlshof 

Jarlshof 

Broch Clickhmin, Lerwick 

Vikings, Norwegians, Danish-Norwegians, Scots 

The archipelagos of the Shetlands and Orkneys offered under warranty to Scotland 

LANGUAGE, BETWEEN ENGLISH AND NORN 

Folklore 

The Up-Helly-Aa 

LINKS WITH NORWAY 

ECONOMY 

Agriculture 

Breeding 

Fishing and fish farming 

Oil 

Tourism 

BIRTH (WITH ORIGINAL SIN) AND DEVELOPMENT OF LERWICK 

Some significant urban development dates 

The "original sin" of Lerwick: smuggling 

The history of lodberries 

MAINLAND 

Lerwick 

Scalloway 

In the north of Mainland: The Gallows Hill (The "Hill of Witches"), Tingwall, Weisdale Voe, Esha Ness 

In the south of Mainland 

COLLECTIVE EXISTENTIAL CRISIS 

FOUR CULTURAL REVOLUTIONS 

First Revolution, 1886: The Crofters' Act 

Second Revolution, 1960: wool, knitwear, refrigerated fish, silver craftsmanship 

Third Revolution, 1971-1998: discovery and exploitation of oil and gas 

Fourth Revolution, 1998-today: contraction of oil extraction, revival and development of traditional economic activities (crofting, breeding, fishing, fish farming), tourism 

Oil, gas 

Fishing and fish farming 

Cultivation, breeding, tourism 

SMUGGLING AND PIRACY IN THE ARCHIPELAGO 

SHIPWRECKS 

In Scotland

Protection of wrecks of historical importance 

In the Shetlands 

The ground stations of the haaf: Walls and Stenness (Mainland) 

"Important" shipwrecks and wrecks protected by law: XVII-XVIII century 

During the Great War 

In the Second World War 

FAIR ISLE 

1. The shipwreck of El Gran Grifón, 1588 

2. Shipwrecks, 1868-1894 

3. The “Year of the Disaster”, 1897 

The background 

The tragedy begins 

The request for help 

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY