Norse settlers named it Fridarey the island of
peace but this stepping stone between Orkney and Shetland was also vital in
times of strife, when the Earls of Orkney and Viking warlords before them
used it as a look out and for sending fire signals to and from Shetland.
For thousands of years Fair Isle has been a useful landmark for shipping
but, in storms and fog, its coastline is highly dangerous, with at least 100
known shipwrecks the most famous of which is probably the Spanish Armada
ship "Gran Grifon" wrecked on Fair Isle in 1588.
Over the centuries the
island changed hands many times, paying rent in butter, cloth, dried fish
and fish oil usually to absentee landlords who rarely visited.
Communications with the outside world were difficult and sporadic. Only in
the late 20th century did the island acquire a safe summer harbour, at North
Haven, and even today the mailboat has to be hauled out of the water from
the reach of winter storms. At Kirkigeo are the ancient "noosts", where men
who rowed and sailed to the line fishing hauled up their distinctive Fair
Isle yoals. The boat shaped roosts remain in use today and traditional boats
are still built in the isle.
5,000 YEARS OF HUMAN SETTLEMENT
Fair Isle has
been intensively studied by archaeologists who have found evidence that the
isle may have been settled by Neolithic people up to 5,000 years ago. There
are traces of oval shaped stone houses, perhaps 3,000 years old, and lines
of turf and stone walls, or dykes, which snake across the landscape.
The "Feely Dyke", a massive turf rampart which divides the common
grazings from the crofts, may also be prehistoric.
The archaeological
remains include curious "burnt mounds" piles of blackened stones which were
heated in a fire and used to heat water. The purpose is unknown but may have
been cooking, tanning, preparing cloth or even a primitive sauna. There are
two known Iron Age sites a promontory fort at Landberg and settlement
underlying an early Christian church at Kirkigeo. Most of the place names
date from after the ninth century Norse settlement of the Northern Isles. In
all, Fair Isle has 14 scheduled monuments, ranging from the earliest signs
of human activity to the remains of a World War ll radar station. The two
lighthouses, now automated, are also listed buildings.
