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This cache is part of the official Thing Site GeoTour. A small lock'n'lock container capable of holding pencil, logbooks and swappable items. Park and grab 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.
The Thing Sites GeoTour has placed 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.
The small promontory in the north end of the Tingwall loch, known as Tingaholm, was the site of Shetland’s local lawthing, or parliament until the 16th century.
Although there is documentary evidence relating to meetings taking place in Tingwall from 1307 onwards, the only reference to a meeting taking place on the holm itself comes from a letter dated 1532. Officials are thought to have sat on stone benches on the holm, while delegates gathered on the slope above. You can still see the remains of a stone causeway which gave access to the mound itself. If the weather was bad they probably met in the church opposite.
Although it is now attached to the mainland, as the name suggests, Tingaholm was once an island. Sometime in the early nineteenth century the levels were lowered, and the site took on the form you can see today.
As well as being the site of the thing, Tingwall was also the base of the Archdeacon in Shetland. The present church was built in 1788, but there is said to have been a church on this site since the twelfth century.
Thingsites often have close links with the church, and there are stories which state that if a person could run from Tingaholm to the church without being caught, they would be absolved of their crimes. Other versions of this story have the person run to the nearby croft at Greista, or to the ‘Murder Stone’ - a standing stone which can be found at the roadside a little further to the south. This stone is traditionally said to be the site where Earl Henry of Orkney and his followers killed his cousin Malise Sperra in 1389.
There are various other reminders of early administration and justice to be found in Tingwall. You may have passed the Herrislea House Hotel, to the North of the site, as you arrived. The word Herra relates to an old administrative division, and has a similar meaning to the term ‘Hundred’ in English. In Fetlar, there are traditionally said to have been three Herras, each with its own thing site. There are also Herras in Yell and Lunasting. To the west of the thing site is Gallow Hill, the site of the former gallows. There are a number of ‘Gallows’ names throughout to Shetland, although it is not clear what the relationship between this site and the thing may have been.
While you’re in the area, why not visit Scalloway Castle? Earl Robert Stewart moved the thing from Tingwall to the castle in 1570. Despite this Tingwall retained a special significance for Shetlanders, and in 1577 over 700 people met once more at this site to bring a complaint against Lawrence Bruce, the local Foud, to royal commissioners from Edinburgh.
This is a park and grab cache. Park in the layby off the B9074. The cache is very nearby!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx oruvaq gur srapr cbfgf.