List of castles in Shetland

Castle Holm

Muness Castle

Scalloway Castle

Vaila Tower

Locations of castles in Shetland

There are few castles in Shetland, the northernmost of the Northern Isles which lie off the coast of Scotland. Shetland is well known for its prehistoric heritage including several well-preserved brochs and iron-age promontory forts, and the islands were later a centre of Viking culture. In the Middle Ages when stone castles became more common in Scotland and elsewhere, few were built in Shetland: the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland record only one such site, the ruins on Castle Holm on an islet within Loch of Strom. The two surviving castles were both built around the same time, by the Stewart and Bruce families who were initially allies but later feuded with one another. The much later Vaila Tower is a 19th-century folly, elaborated by the laird of Vaila from an existing watch tower.

List

Name	Image	Location	Date	Notes
Castle Holm		Loch of Strom HU 3953 4753	12th century	The remains of a 12th-century castle stand on this islet, linked to the shore by a causeway. The ruin measures approximately 5.5 by 6.5 metres (18 by 21 ft).[1]
Muness Castle		Unst HP 6295 0116	1598
Scalloway Castle		Scalloway HU 4043 3923	1600
Vaila Tower or Mucklaberry Tower[2]		Vaila HU 2212 4679	19th century	This small, two-storey tower is said to have been a watch tower, built in the early 19th century by the laird of Vaila House to oversee smuggling operations. The tower was rebuilt around 1900 as a gothic folly. Category B listed building.[3]

See also

• Castles in Scotland
• List of castles in Scotland
• List of listed buildings in Shetland

Notes

1. RCAHMS. "Castle Holm (679)". Canmore. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
2. "Mucklaberry Tower". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
3. "Vaila Tower, listed building information". Historic Scotland. Retrieved 4 April 2014.