earlofzetland Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 Driving in towards Lerwick from the north (next to the machine cut peat banks) is this strange structure on the left hand side of the road. Anybody have any ideas what it was? http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss10/earlofzetland/IMG_1829.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrunchieSquirrel Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 It might be a tunnel or a rempart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 Small bridge from the old road, with the road/fill dug away from one side of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lapse Rate Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 I'll go with Doglover on this one, I think its a 'rempart' from Scallowa Cestle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earlofzetland Posted May 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 I've always assumed it to be a bridge until i had a closer look. Below is a view looking through the structure. It is hollow all the way through with no roof. http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss10/earlofzetland/IMG_1832.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muppet Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 I've often wondered about it too. Always assumed it had been part of a bridge, but that's only a hunch really. There seems to be a burn at the right hand side of the top picture which is dried up and what would have been the bank opposite that structure (off the photo) looks steep and solid enough not to need a structure like that to match. Could there have been any military structures up there? Would that be part of MacLachlans walk? I believe that was named after a Sergeant MacLachlan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Njugle Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 ^If you know where to look in the top photo you can actually see the remains of the old war-time firing range in the background. I'd always assumed it to be part of a bridge or culvert. It sticks in my mind that there was more to it than currently visible not-so-long ago but I cannot recall what else there was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earlofzetland Posted May 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 Below is another view. It isn't a dried up burn but a man made track that leads down to the peat cutting site. It doesn't strike me as being part of Lerwick WW2 defences but i definately think it's 20th century. The pointing is still in pretty good nick and there are strange pipes sticking out of one end. It also has concrete lintels. It doesn't span the burn but lies in the (current) same direction as the flow of the water. I think it might be the Gremista burn. Also further up the hill you can see what appears to be part of a wall in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately i didn't want to get my feet wet so didn't take a photo but i wonder if the two are linked somehow?http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss10/earlofzetland/IMG_1834.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 Water used to go through the structure, but the top slabs have been lifted off and rubble has fallen in, pipes at the end are where old side ditches ran into the burn, which used to go through it, but the channel was dug out alongside when the bridge was (partly) demolished? What I can see makes sense for it to be a bridge like that, it's just that all the ground round about looks a lot different now than it would have done when it was built - a lot of what you are seeing would have been underground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muppet Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 Maybe i've caused some confusion here. I edited my 'right' from a 'left' and you may have read my post before I did that. Just had a look in google earth and it does look there as if there would have been a burn going past the right hand side of the structure before the road was built. The water now being diverted down the south side of the road. This old burn, if you follow it past the structure becomes 'live' again and runs into the North Gremista burn. You can also see the track on the left hand side going down to the peat cuttings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 we were told at school they were anti tank structures, not that the tanks got here. maybe just for training? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earlofzetland Posted May 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 I think i'm going to go with the bridge hypothesis. It is no anti-tank block although you can still see plenty next to hoofields. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 A bridge would seem most likely, its not at a place many folk ever went though before the new road was built, so only a few would have known what exactly was there before construction started. There should be a some of them left yet though, as the road up from Gremista as it is today only came in 78/79. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earlofzetland Posted May 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 Been looking through the museums photographs and came across this picture http://photos.shetland-museum.org.uk/index.php?a=wordsearch&s=item&key=WczoxMjoic291dGggYnJpZGdlIjs=&pg=6 It is taken roughly in the area where Hoofields caravan site is now. It refers to it as being taken near to the South bridge of Gremista. Unfortuanetly the bridge isn't in the photo. The fact it was called the "South bridge" would indicate there was also a north one. The bridge like structure we are discussing does lie to the north of where this picture was taken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuckleJoannie Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 MY guess would be a WW2 military road. Njugle mentions the firing range and I seem to mind that there were roads there before the present main road obliterated them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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