Documents

Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).

The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.

• Type

  Legal Documents

  Title

  SM7665_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600013118)

Summary

Description

The monument comprises the remains of a small crofting township together with its distinctive field system.

The township of Snarravoe lies on a low rise overlooking an inlet of the sea (to the SW) and the Loch of Snarravoe (to the SE). All of the crofts are now abandoned and roofless, but at one time there were at least 5 separate households. The croft houses survive to wall-head height, with their attached yards and outbuildings in a slightly poorer state of repair. The crofts were progressively abandoned in the first half of the twentieth century, the last in the early 1950s.

To the SW, S and SE of the township are the grassed-over remains of a remarkably well-preserved series of fields. To the SW are broad strip fields, while to the S are narrow strip fields, in both cases aligned up and down the slope. To the SE are a series of rectangular fields with distinctive lynchets, or banks, at their upper and lower edges. A track leads W from the township and down to the shore at Snarra Voe, where traces of nousts (boat shelters) survive above the beach.

The whole complex is a remarkably complete survival of a crofting township, its state of preservation owing much to its lack of subsequent disturbance.

The area to be scheduled is irregular on plan, bounded in part by the NE shore of Snarra Voe, in part by the N side of the track to the shore and in part by the NW shore of Loch of Snarravoe. The area measures a maximum of 635m from just S of W to just N of E by a maximum of 415m from NNE-SSW, and includes all of the elements described above and an area around them, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract.

Statement of National Importance

The monument is of national importance as one of the best preserved examples of a deserted crofting township in Shetland, which survives almost completely undisturbed along with its former fields and associated features. It has the potential to provide important information about a recently vanished way of life, and affords the opportunity, through comparison with settlements of similar social and economic status elsewhere, to provide a physical basis for the study of a period which is more normally approached from oral traditional or documentary sources.

References

Bibliography

About Scheduled Monuments

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).

The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.

Scheduled monument consent is required to carry out certain work, including repairs, to scheduled monuments. Applications for scheduled monument consent are made to us. We are happy to discuss your proposals with you before you apply and we do not charge for advice or consent. More information about consent and how to apply for it can be found on our website at www.historicenvironment.scot.

Find out more about scheduling and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.