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| The Lodberrie - Lerwick, Shetland - seen from East, luglio 2019 (CC Some rights reserved, Virtual-Pano) * This photo is not in the book |
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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
...
BIRTH (WITH ORIGINAL SIN) AND DEVELOPMENT OF LERWICK
The urban centre of Lerwick, the capital of the archipelago, is located in the south-eastern region of Mainland, on the Bressay Sound, which separates it from the island of the same name. In the last century the town has doubled its inhabitants and has expanded more than ten times.
Attracted by the abundance of fish, fishermen and merchants from distant countries for centuries have worked there: German traders belonging to the Hanseatic League and Dutch fishermen.
A foreign presence, which will give rise, both to this "North-Atlantic Fishing Capital", and to the "Maritime" epic of the Shetlands.
The islanders, descended from the Viking settlers, were in fact only part-time fishermen.
Because they would have preferred to continue cultivating the land. Although, acquiring an intimate knowledge of the ocean waters, soon they will become excellent sailors.
On the other hand, up until the beginning of the twentieth century they used to venture with their sixarens (six-oar boats and sailing) to a distance of 64 km from the coast, to carry out the haaf, deep-sea fishing...
In the fourteenth and fifteenth century, merchants from Gdansk, Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck and Rostock have a monopoly on the fish trade (...)
.After the islands were transferred to Scotland (16th and 17th centuries), attracted by land and power thousands of Scots landed on the islands, especially from the northern and eastern coasts of Scotland (...)
.In the following centuries (XVI and XVII) the Dutch concentrated in the Sound up to two thousand boats for herring fishing (...), replacing the Germans, whose League is now in evident decline.
The temporary encampments, which in these centuries install in the Bressay Sound, form the first nucleus of Lerwick, which is mentioned for the first time for the prohibition of trade (1625): the barracks must therefore be demolished, as a source of drunkenness, robbery, prostitution, assaults and murders...
(...) According to Martin, around 1665 there were in Lerwick only 3 or 4 families.
While, during his visit (about 1695), there were already 300 individuals.
A demographic increase due to fishing.
(...) In 1700 Lerwick counts approx. 700 inhabitants.
Three years later (1703), during the War of Spanish Succession, French warships put an end to Dutch fishing, firing 160 boats into the Sound.
(...) In 1707 the Shetland archipelago passed directly under the administration of London.
The following year, in 1708, replacing Scalloway, Lerwick became the capital of the islands.
In 1712 the foundation of a Custom House strongly threatened the exchanges between islanders and foreign fishermen, completely free before then.
So, the duty on imported salt allows the British to permanently discourage foreign trade, even if it will put in serious crisis the entire economy of the islands.
In 1762 the town is enclosed within an area between the base of the hill, the small pier of the Marina and the coastline, i.e. between Market Cross and Fort Charlotte. Built in 1665 to defend the settlement from the Dutch, who will repeatedly burn and destroy it. But every time it will be rebuilt!
(...) The houses are located both towards the hill and along what is now Commercial Street, the road par excellence, once called The Shore.
The oldest houses represent the spacious residences of the wellto-do.
In addition to these, at the beginning of the 19th century more modest houses were added, divided by Lanes, which from the hill descended perpendicular to the coast. T
(...) Only around the 1920s new residential areas will be realized. Now the area, once degraded, is in great demand. The modest houses of the past, systematically restored and renovated, have been transformed into modern apartments (...)
The southern part of the city - which is called Toon -, near the port, has houses whose foundations are lapped by the waters of the North Sea, and whose private piers are a memory of a time, in which smuggling was integral and vital part of the economy and of the culture of the islands.
Because the house, the warehouse and the pier formed a whole: the lodberrie (...)
The "original sin" of Lerwick: smuggling
Perhaps might appear interesting the presence of a Pirate Lane in the centre of Lerwick, a stone's throw from Market Cross, Commercial Street and, of course, the Harbour.
Not so, even if pirate episodes here have not been completely unknown (...)
(...) While at the beginning of the eighteenth century these waters were beaten by French privateers, who "pillaged as gentlemen" (...).
On the other hand, there is another aspect that has profoundly marked the islands and, particularly, Lerwick, in the Sound of Bressay.
Here had to be developed the most important centre of the archipelago.
Since, as we have seen, hundreds and hundreds of boats, mainly Dutch, engaged in herring fishing, for centuries frequented these waters.
(...) To realize this, it is enough to look at the city profile from the sea. The southern part of the town is characterized by several piers extending towards the North Sea, the lodberries, which are accessed through a door at the back of warehouse-houses, directly built in contact with the waters.
In fact, what Shetland once used to be proud of was smuggling, especially of alcohol.
(...) Furthermore (...) the Scots were delighted in combining the traditional aversion for customs and taxes, with the patriotic ideal of cheating the British.
Thus, goods such as spirits, wine and tobacco (subject to high taxation), but also Dutch and English fabrics, sugar, even salt, were smuggled (...).
The history of lodberries
The lodberries represent the tangible testimony of eras in which smuggling was an integral part of the island’s economy.
(...) In 1730 Patrick Scollay, an immigrant Orcadian captain, built a house parallel to the coast. In the back, extending towards the sea, erects what will be the first urban lodberry (...).
Later the lodberries will multiply... In this way, the free exchange of goods between islanders and foreign fishermen will be seriously threatened, while smuggling will spread so much that, at the end of the eighteenth century: "it had virtually become an industry" (...)
The lodberries served very well for this purpose.
On the other hand, there were no public docks or warehouses and it was essential that every merchant, to work, had his own access to the sea.
So, the business prospered. Between the end of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century the view of Lerwick will be dotted with numerous lodberries .
As already noted, the real raison d'être of the lodberries was to facilitate smuggling.
So the Dutch and others could easily get rid of their loads, without particular interruptions.
They even built tunnels under the shores, which connected lodberries and warehouses to buildings located further inland (...)
FROM: ULTIMA THULE. MEMORIES OF A WINTER STUDY JOURNEY TO THE
SHETLAND ISLANDS
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ALL DATA (ECONOMIC, STATISTICAL, DEMOGRAPHIC, ETHNOGRAPHIC, ETC.) CONTAINED IN MY BOOKS HAVE BEEN CAREFULLY VERIFIED, INTEGRATED AND UPDATED AT THE TIME OF THEIR PUBLICATION
