EXPLORING THE HERITAGE
There are unexpected
historical sites to investigate, such as the "Battle Pund", on the West
Isle. It is thought that blood feuds were once settled here. Happily, on
this crimefree island, any feuding these days is usually confined to the
indoor bowls carpet.
The shores in and around the harbour bear the signs of Skerries'
fishing heritage: At the North Mills on the West Isle and the Lang Ayre on
Bruray, you can see the remains of the lodges lived in by haaf fishermen
during the summer season; by the pier sits one of the last iron kettles in
Shetland, once used to melt fish livers and later to prepare cutch bark
for coating fishing lines and nets by those same intrepid fishermen.
You can still
visit the "Ling Beach", so called because it was used - indeed constructed
artificially - for the purpose of drying fish, which were then exported.
The Ling Beach is now disused and overgrown, but fish are still caught and
dried on Skerries. However, today you are more likely to see fish drying
on a washing line.
WAR AND PEACE
On the currently uninhabited island of Grunay, once home to the keepers of
the now-automated Skerries lighthouse, tragedy of a different kind is
remembered. Here a Canadian bomber crashed during World War II. A plaque
commemorating the event was placed on the island in 1990.
