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Sandsting is a parish in the West Mainland of Shetland, Scotland, forming a southern arm of the Walls Peninsula. After the parish of Aithsting was annexed into Sandsting in the sixteenth century, it became known as Sandsting and Aithsting parish.

Summary

The parish includes the settlements of Skeld, Westerwick and Culswick. It contains the islands of Vementry and Papa Little together with a number of smaller islets, on the south side of St Magnus Bay, and comprehends a mainland district of about ten miles by eight between that bay and Scalloway Bay. The coast is partly bold, and cavernous; the seaboard is cut into sections by long bays; and the interior is mostly an assemblage of knolls and hillocks, with a profusion of heath and interspersions of moss.

The area of the parish is given as 162.4 km.

Antiquities include standing stones, burial monds and Old Norse fortifications, as well as church ruins and burial grounds. St Mary's Chapel in Sandsting was once the main church for the parish of Sandsting. The medieval church, which was built no later than the sixteenth century, now stands in ruin.

Etymology

Sandsting is a place name derived from the farm of Sand. Ting, from the Old Norse Thing, is a reference to an assembly site or meeting place believed to have once been located within the area.

Note

• This article is based in part on The Gazetteer of Scotland by Rev. John Wilson (1882) Published by W. & A.K. Johnstone, Edinburgh

References

1. Parish of Sandsting (Scotland's places)
2. Sandsting and Aithsting (Vision of Britain)
3. Sandsting parish (Shetland) (Saints in Scottish Place-Names)
4. "Overview of Sandsting". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
5. Sandsting (Shetland Family History Society)
6. Gazetteer for Scotland: Parish of Sandsting
7. St Mary's Chapel by Sand (Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia)
8. Patterns of Assembly: Norse Thing Sites in Shetland, (Alexandra Sanmark. Journal of the North Atlantic 2013 Special Volume 5:XX–XX)

Related Reading

• Graham-Campbell, James and Batey, Colleen E. (1998) Vikings in Scotland: An Archaeological Survey (Edinburgh University Press.) ISBN 978-0-7486-0641-2
• Jakobsen Jakob (1936) The Dialect and Place Names of Shetland (David Nutt, London)
• Stewart, John (1987) Shetland Collection of Place-names (Shetland Library and Museum, Lerwick)

External links

• St. Mary's Chapel, Sand
• Sandsting History Group
• Shetland Parish Map

v t e Shetland
Inhabited islands	Mainland Bressay Burra East Burra West Burra Fair Isle Fetlar Foula Muckle Roe North Isles Out Skerries Papa Stour Trondra Unst Vaila Whalsay Yell
Other islands	Balta Bigga Brother Isle Colsay Hascosay Hildasay Lamba Linga, Bluemull Sound Linga, Busta Voe Linga (near Vementry) Linga, Vaila Sound Linga, Yell Sound Mousa Noss Oxna Papa Papa Little Samphrey South Havra St Ninian's Isle Uyea, Northmavine Uyea, Unst Vementry Ve Skerries West Linga
Towns and villages	Lerwick Aith Baltasound Bigton Bixter Brae Cunningsburgh Grutness Gulberwick Gutcher Haroldswick Hillswick Levenwick Mid Yell Mossbank North Roe Ollaberry Quarff Sandwick Scalloway Symbister Toab Toft Ulsta Uyeasound Vidlin Voe Walls Weisdale Whiteness
Mainland Parishes	Delting Dunrossness Lerwick Nesting Northmavine Sandsting Tingwall Walls and Sandness
Insular Parishes	Bressay Fetlar Unst Yell
Maritime features	Balta Sound Bluemull Sound Burra Voe Busta Voe Calder's Geo Ronas Voe St Magnus Bay Sullom Voe West Voe of Sumburgh Yell Sound
Extreme points (N S E W)	Out Stack The Skerry, off Fair Isle Bound Skerry Waster Hoevda, Foula
Topics	Animal breeds Etymology History Prehistory

60°13′N 1°24′W / 60.217°N 1.400°W / 60.217; -1.400

• Parishes of Shetland
• Thing (assembly)
• Mainland, Shetland