Symbister
| Symbister | |
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 Symbister Harbour, viewed from Ward of Clate |
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 Symbister
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| Symbister shown within Shetland | |
| Population | 797 |
| OS grid reference | HU539622 |
| Civil parish | |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SHETLAND |
| Postcode district | ZE2 |
| Dialling code | 01806 |
| Police | Scottish |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
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| Location | Symbister Whalsay Shetland Scotland United Kingdom |
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| Coordinates | 60°20′26″N 1°02′17″W / 60.340482°N 1.038066°W |
| Year first constructed | 1904 (first) |
| Year first lit | 2000s |
| Foundation | concrete basement |
| Construction | metal skeletal tower (current) cast iron tower (first) |
| Tower shape | square parallelepiped tower covered by aluminium panels with light on the top (current) octagonal prism tower with balcony and lantern |
| Markings / pattern | white tower |
| Height | 7 metres (23 ft) |
| Focal height | 11 metres (36 ft) |
| Light source | solar power |
| Range | white: 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi) green: 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) |
| Characteristic | Fl (2) WG 12s. |
| Admiralty number | A3802 |
| NGA number | 3412 |
| ARLHS number | SCO-235 |
| Managing agent | Northern Lighthouse Board |
Symbister is the largest village and port on the island of Whalsay, Shetland. The population in 1991 was 797. The focus of the village is the harbour, which is home to small fishing boats as well as large deep sea trawlers. The village is overlooked by the granite mansion Symbister House, built by the Sixth Robert Bruce of Symbister in 1823. The harbour is also known by the names Bay Of Symbister, Symbister Harbour and Symbister Old Harbour.
The Pier House, now a museum, was once the centre for the export of dried and salted fish to the Hanseatic League, an alliance of trading guilds that established and maintained a trade monopoly over much of Northern Europe between the 13th and 17th centuries.
The island has been inhabited for more than 4000 years as witnessed by the Neolithic houses of Yoxie and Benie. An Iron Age block house to the northeast overlooks the Loch of Huxter. In the 14th century, the Huxters took over the island and held it until they went bankrupt in the 1830s.Germans also sailed to Symbister for trading and brought their goods, iron tools, seeds, salt and cloth to barter for dried and salted fish from the island. The old Hanseatic house which had been used by the Germans for several centuries until 1707, was refurbished into the museum.
William Bruce of Symbister, who had migrated from Fife to Symbister, was a deputy to Laurence Bruce of Cultamalindie. In 1571, he was the Great Foude of Shetland, under Lord Robert Stewart. After his retirement, he moved back to his home country but he left his properties at Symbister to his eldest son and Fife to a son by his second wife. William Bruce, his grandson, the third in the lineage left his properties to a son by his second wife. The family lived in Symbister until recently and had considerable power on the island.
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Wikipedia