Shared description
St Ninian's Isle
Lying off the west coast of Mainland Shetland adjacent to the village of Bigton, St Ninian's Isle is connected to the main island by a shell-sand tombolo, reckoned to be the finest (and largest active) example in the British Isles.
St Ninian's occasionally becomes a true island when tides and weather combine to inundate the tombolo, but usually it is, strictly speaking, a peninsula.
The little island has an area of approximately 178 acres (72ha) and rises to a maximum elevation of 174' (53m). According to the information board on the Bigton side of the tombolo, the coastal walk around the island is approximately 3½ miles (5.3km) long and will take about 1½ - 2 hours to complete. This board also tells us that the island was inhabited until 1775, though Wikipedia gives a date of 1796.
On 4th July 1958, a schoolboy, Douglas Coutts, who was helping visiting archaeologists, uncovered the fantastic Pictish silver "St Ninian's Isle Treasure" dating from c.800 AD see Link
and Link for more details.
St Ninian's occasionally becomes a true island when tides and weather combine to inundate the tombolo, but usually it is, strictly speaking, a peninsula.
The little island has an area of approximately 178 acres (72ha) and rises to a maximum elevation of 174' (53m). According to the information board on the Bigton side of the tombolo, the coastal walk around the island is approximately 3½ miles (5.3km) long and will take about 1½ - 2 hours to complete. This board also tells us that the island was inhabited until 1775, though Wikipedia gives a date of 1796.
On 4th July 1958, a schoolboy, Douglas Coutts, who was helping visiting archaeologists, uncovered the fantastic Pictish silver "St Ninian's Isle Treasure" dating from c.800 AD see Link
and Link for more details.by Rob Farrow
Created: Wed, 7 Sep 2011, Updated: Fri, 20 Jan 2012
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