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A small lock'n'lock box capable of holding logbook, pencil and swappables. Park and Cache location.
Thing sites, from the Old Norse Þing, are the early assemblies found throughout Northern Europe as a result of our shared Norse heritage.
When the Vikings and early Norse settlers arrived in a new place they brought with them their customs and legal systems. Political decisions were made at the thing, laws upheld and disputes settled. Proceedings were overseen by the local ruler and the law-speaker (judge), whose job was to memorise and recite the law. At some things, known as Althings, any free man was entitled to vote. At others - Lawthings - the crown and local communities acted together to interpret the law.
The thing was also a focus for religious activity, as well as trade and exchange. At Thingvellir in Iceland you can still see the remains of the booths, or huts, where traders came to do business with people attending the meeting.
The thing system for sharing and legislating power can still be recognised today. Several things continue to be active. The Icelandic parliament is still known as the Althing, the Norwegian parliament is called the Storting and the Faroese parliament goes by the name of Løgting. The Manx parliament, known as Tynwald, still holds a midsummer court on the thing mound at Tynwald Hill every year.
There are Thing Sites caches in and around the locations of Norse and Viking assembly sites in Norway, Iceland, The Faroe Islands, Orkney, Shetland, Highland Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Follow in the footsteps of the Vikings, and explore some of these fascinating sites.
A quick look at Shetland's parish names will show you that many of them contain the element 'ting'. Each of these names suggests that there was once a thing held in that area. Often we do not know exactly where the thing met, but the name can give us some ideas.
It is likely that the thing for Sandsting met somewhere at Sand. Before the roads were built in Shetland, people used to move about the islands in a very different way, and Sand was an important thoroughfare. People from the west side of Shetland would often pass through Sand on their way east.
This role as an access point for people from all over the region may have been one of the key factors in its choice as a location for the thing. The sheltered voe and wide sandy beach would have been ideal places for pulling up boats. Later Sand became the perfect place to land fishing boat. Small stone jetties were built out into the voe, and boats were pulled up into noosts all along the beach.
It was also an ideal location for the ‘whalegrind (whale hunt). Whales were driven from the open sea up the voe and onto the beach. The last whalegrind in Shetland took place at Sand on the 15th of July 1899. A pod of pilot whales was spotted nearby and driven onto the beach. 71 individual animals were caught during this event. Today, pilot whale sightings around Shetland are rare, but Sand is still a great place to see porpoises.
Standing at the cache location, look towards the head of the voe, at the two large hillocks above the village. From the top of these hillocks there are fantastic views out to sea from Sandvoe, up Sandsound Voe and even as far as Bixter. You can see why this would make an ideal meeting point.
Next to the carpark you will see a ruined stone arch set in a graveyard. This is the remains of St Mary’s Kirk. St Mary’s was the main church for the parish of Sandsting, and was built in the 12th Century. Further along the coastline is Kirkholm. This was once the location of a monastery where monks could go to live in solitude.
Thing sites often had close relationships with the church, and at Tingwall there are stories which state that if you could run from Tingaholm to the kirk without being caught you would be pardoned from the crimes you had committed.
The large building which you pass as you approach the cache site is the Haa of Sand. It was built in 1754 for Sir Andrew Mitchell, who owned a large estate in Sand. It is one of the finest Haas (Lairds House) in Shetland, and was built using stone from the Scalloway Castle. You can still see two complete doorways in the garden entrances.
This cache is a small lock’n’lock box with space for logbook, pencil and swappables.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx haqrearngu gur vagrecergngvba obneq