News / Tour guide wants action on St Ninian’s chapel site
A TOUR guide in Shetland has called for the relevant authorities to do more to maintain the iconic St Ninian’s Isle chapel ruins, which he claims have been left in a “disgraceful” state.
In a letter to Shetland News, Allen Fraser of Shetland Geotours also said visitors’ photos of the stunning tombolo – which has long featured regularly in promotional material by Shetland’s tourism industry – had this year been spoiled by what he described as an “abandoned eyesore” on the beach.
He said the isle’s human history was also a major attraction and he was at a loss to understand why the ruins of a chapel where a schoolboy discovered the St Ninian’s Isle treasure in 1958 had become an “overgrown, decaying disgrace”.
“St Ninian’s Isle has a terrific story to tell of human and natural history to the many thousands of visitors a year who walk across the sands and seek out the site,” Fraser said.
“What these visitors cannot understand is why the Shetland community ignore the now unmarked chapel site and have left it abandoned to become an overgrown, decaying disgrace.”
He said an access gate was tied up with a ribbon, nettles had grown as high as an interpretive panel, the site was overgrown and a public bench was decaying.
Fraser continued: “For some reason the disgraceful state of St Ninian’s Isle chapel has been totally ignored for years by those who have been tasked to promote and look after our history and culture.
“To cut down nettles, maintain the gate, fence and steps and paint the bench would hardly be a high yearly cost.”
He added: “In the past I have contacted Shetland Amenity Trust and Historic Scotland about the state of the site, but neither is interested in the upkeep of an important part of Shetland and Scotland’s heritage.
“I guess if there was a multi-million pound vanity project to roof over the site there would be much more interest in looking after an important part of our culture and heritage.”
A Historic Scotland spokesman said that the St Ninian’s chapel and burial ground was added to the “schedule of national monuments” in 1970 – “officially recognising it as a site of national importance”.
“However, this recognition does not confer any additional maintenance requirements, and any maintenance of the chapel site and associated infrastructure is ultimately the responsibility of the landowner,” he said.
“We have been in contact with the landowner since 2006 to advise on how to improve the management of the site, as well as providing some grant funding to help facilitate vegetation control and rabbit fencing works. We intend to continue this dialogue to ensure a sustainable future for this important site.”
Visit Scotland’s islands manager Steve Mathieson said he was aware that the chapel site was “not in the best state of repair at present”.
But Mathieson said the organisation has had no complaints from visitors, adding that while Visit Scotland would “always encourage anybody taking an interest in maintaining our visitor attractions, I realise that this is not always as easy and straightforward as it appears”.
“The chapel is a scheduled site of national interest but is privately owned, and though in the past both Historic Scotland and the Shetland Amenity Trust have carried out some maintenance work, we all know that in the present day financial resources – especially in the public sector – are scarce and need to be carefully focused,” he said.
“I believe that the Ninian Pipeline funded the bench, steps and initial interpretation board, so perhaps we could be looking at a number of alternative ways to find a positive solution to this issue.”
Andy Steven of Promote Shetland said that anything which had a negative impact on visitors’ experience was “something the local community, not just Promote Shetland, would have a vested interest in”.
But, in common with Visit Scotland, Promote Shetland has to date “not seen any complaints regarding the visual impact of the ‘abandoned eyesore’, as reported by Mr Fraser, via our social media channels – usually the first place that this would be reported these days”.
Steven added: “In contrast recent comments about a rusty skip on Victoria Pier were submitted. However, to their credit, the Lerwick Port Authority reacted immediately and had it replaced. It is easy for anyone to complain but Promote Shetland are impressed by those in the community who make a positive contribution to place marketing.”
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