Sumburgh Head

Sumburgh Head forms the southern tip of Shetland's Mainland, its cliffs looking across the waters toward Fair Isle and Orkney. Nearby, layers of settlement at Sumburgh reveal thousands of years of human occupation, from prehistoric dwellings to Norse buildings. A fortified house stood here in later centuries. In 1821 Robert Stevenson built a lighthouse on the headland, providing a beacon for ships approaching this exposed meeting of the North Sea and Atlantic.