In 1882-4, Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland described Mousa like this:
Mousa, an island in Dunrossness parish, Shetland, near the E coast of the mainland, 11 miles S by W of Lerwick, and 10 NNE of Sumburgh Head. It measures 1 3/8 mile in length from NNW to SSE, and ¾ mile in extreme breadth. A 'Pictish' round tower on it, called Mousa Burgh, is perhaps the most perfect antiquity of its class in Europe. ...
It is 42 feet high, and measures 50 feet in exterior, 20 feet in interior, diameter; contracts in form somewhat like the bust of a well-formed human body; and consists of double concentric walls, each about 5 feet thick, with a passage or winding staircase between them. Its low narrow doorway conducts to the interior by a low narrow passage 15 feet long, such as to admit only one person at a time, and even him only on all fours. Built of the surrounding shingle, without mortar, it shows no mark of a tool; and its builders certainly were unacquainted with the arch. As to its origin and purpose we are left to conjecture; but tradition records that Erland, the son of Harold, having carried off a beautiful Norwegian widow, was for some time besieged by her son in the burgh of Mousa.
Mousa through time
Mousa is now part of Shetland Islands district. Click here for graphs and data of how Shetland Islands has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Mousa itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Mousa in Shetland Islands | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/21731
Date accessed: 19th April 2024
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