Tingwall, is a hamlet and parish in Shetland, mostly on Mainland.
The hamlet lies about 4 miles north west of Lerwick

Lerwick

Lerwick is the capital and main port of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, located more than 100 miles off the north coast of mainland Scotland on the east coast of the Shetland Mainland...

. It is at the head of a long narrow bay. Tingwall Airport

Tingwall Airport

Tingwall Airport , also known as Lerwick/Tingwall Airport, is located in the Tingwall valley, near the village of Gott, northwest of Lerwick on the mainland island of the Shetland, Scotland....

 is here.

Parish

Tingwall parish includes the settlements of Scalloway

Scalloway

Scalloway is the largest settlement on the North Atlantic coast of Mainland, Shetland with a population of approximately 812, at the 2001 census...

, Whiteness

Whiteness, Shetland

Whiteness is a village and parish in the Shetland Islands, on Mainland.The village lies seven miles north north west of Lerwick. The parish is now merged with Tingwall. The village has a Methodist church located in South Whiteness and the Whiteness Primary School faces Whitedale F.C.'s Football...

, Veensgarth

Veensgarth

Veensgarth , is a village in the Tingwall valley west of Lerwick in Shetland. It includes the Vallafield housing estate....

 and Gott, and the Vallafield housing estate. The centre of the parish was the Tingwall Kirk. It comprehends a section of Mainland, stretching from the Atlantic at Scalloway, to the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 at Rova Head and includes the formerly inhabited islands of Hildasay

Hildasay

Hildasay , also known as Hildisay, is an uninhabited island off the west coast of the Shetland Mainland.-Geography and geology:...

, Langa

Langa, Shetland

Langa is an uninhabited island off Hildasay, in Shetland, Scotland. It is not to be confused with the numerous islands called "Linga" in Shetland .-History:...

, Linga

Linga, Hildasay

Linga is a small island off Hildasay in the Shetland Islands. It is one of the Scalloway Islands. Haswell-Smith compares Hildasay and the adjacent islands to a yeti's footprint, with Linga as a the big toe...

, and Oxna

Oxna

Oxna is one of the Scalloway Islands, lying north west of Burra in Shetland, Scotland. Oxna has an area of 68 ha .The island has been uninhabited since World War I, but there is a house which is still used as a holiday home.....

.

The Mainland section is divided into two districts by a hill ridge, and comprises two parallel valleys (nearly at right angles from the ridge). The Tingwall valley extends north from near Scalloway

Scalloway

Scalloway is the largest settlement on the North Atlantic coast of Mainland, Shetland with a population of approximately 812, at the 2001 census...

 to the south end of Lax Firth. It is diversified by the lochs of Tingwall, Girlsta, Asta, Strom and some others.

It is so indented by the sea as to contain no point farther than two miles from it. Measured across marine intersections, it has a length of about nineteen miles, and a maximum breadth of ten miles.

History

Lawting Islet in the Loch of Tingwall was the seat of supreme administration by Norsemen

Norsemen

Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...

 over all Shetland. It was at Law Ting Holm

Law Ting Holm

Law Ting Holm is an islet in the freshwater Loch of Tingwall, itself located on Mainland Shetland, Scotland. This islet is now attached to Mainland Shetland by a stone causeway wide and long...

, an islet at the northern end of the Loch of Tingwall, that the Norse held their annual Thing assembly (Ting). It is locally reported to be the site of the last Thing assembly held in Shetland.

Many tumuli

Tumulus

A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...

, and remains of ancient chapels are found in the parish, and many stone axes and flint arrow heads have also been found. Tingwall is home to the literary brothers Laurence I. Graham

Laurence I. Graham

Laurence I. Graham , better known as Lollie Graham, is a well known Shetland poet and author, born in Stromfirth in 1924. The family moved to one of the new croft holdings at Veensgarth, Tingwall and he has lived there ever since...

 and John J. Graham

John J. Graham

John J. Graham was an American graphic artist who designed and created both the NBC peacock logo and the NBC "snake" logo ....

.

External links

• Tingwall Stone (Murder stone)

Other sources

• The original article is based on Shetlopedia.co a GFDL wiki.
• Wilson, Rev. John The Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: 1882) Published by W. & A. K. Johnstone
• Tudor, J. R. The Orkneys and Shetland: Their Past and Present State(London: 1883) Published by Edward Stanford) http://books.google.com/books?id=YHIJAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Tudor,+J.+R.+%281883%29++The+Orkneys+and+Shetland:+Their+Past+and+Present+State&source=bl&ots=OpakhNGWFw&sig=L57eGT4i7eDWcmFivGVCJPhJVuA&hl=en&ei=kn1iTcyDN5COtgOznvVn&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Related reading

• Fojut , Noel (1994) A Guide to Prehistoric and Viking Shetland (Shetland Times) ISBN 978-0900662911