John Spence says the name Finnister is given to one of the many punds or enclosures in the Shetland scattalds. The ground inside the old dyke had evidently been a toon, a croft. It is traditionally said that the last family all died or mysteriously disappeared by some enchantment, and though the ground is the richest spot in the pasture, no animal was said to remain on it after sundown.
He links it to other names in the area: Finnister Knowe in Delting, a green hillock probably a burial mound; the Finnie Knowe near the large ruin at Brettabister in Nesting, meaning the Finns' knoll; a green hillock near the burn of Grunafirth; and the Finnister Hadds in a remote glen between Boofell and the Lang Kame, probably Finns' burrows.
Spence connects the names to the Finns of his theory of early settlement. For this record the point is the tradition itself, a place where animals would not stay at dusk. No year or named family is given.
Comments