The Holm of Noss or Cradle Holm is an uninhabited islet of the Shetland Islands

Shetland Islands

Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...

. It is about 48m at its highest point.

Geography and geology

It is a tabular islet with vertical faces about 160 ft (49 m) high, and is adjacent to Noss

Noss

Noss is a small, previously inhabited island in Shetland, Scotland. It is a sheep farm and has been a National Nature Reserve since 1955.-Geography:...

, from which it is separated by a 20 metres (66 ft). gap Both the Holm of Noss, and the adjacent Faedda Ness on Noss are riddled with caves.

History

The island's other name, "Cradle Holm", comes from a small hoist, or cradle, which used to run between the island and Noss, for around 200 years from the 17th century, to 1864. It was said to be big enough to be able to take one man, and one sheep.

In 1864, the laird

Laird

A Laird is a member of the gentry and is a heritable title in Scotland. In the non-peerage table of precedence, a Laird ranks below a Baron and above an Esquire.-Etymology:...

's factor, Mr Walker, had the cradle dismantled on the grounds of safety, and had a wall erected on the neighbouring cliff on Noss. The crofter who constructed the original cradle is said to have won his bet, that he could not climb it, but died shortly after constructing the cradle.