SHETLAND STALWARTS

Make no mistake, the Shetland Islands are different from other parts of Great Britain. They have their own distinctive landscape, dialect and a prosperous, oilbased economy. What’s more, the islands boast a well-maintained road network that would be the envy of most other parts of the UK.

The first inhabitants are thought to have come to the islands at the end of the last Ice Age. The first permanent settlers cleared the land, planted crops and raised sheep and cattle. By the Victorian era, those living there had built their own water mill, and crofters would bring their oats and bere by horse and cart to be processed into meal. Agriculture continues to play a big part in Shetland’s economy today, despite the oil boom of the 1970s.

Late arrivals

In common with a lot of Scottish island communities, tractors arrived late on Shetland and, for the early part of the