Ward of Scousburgh

The Ward of Scousburgh, (commonly referred to as Scousburgh Hill), because of its height (263m) and nearness to the south end of the Shetland Mainland, with easy road access, is an important link in the communication network to the islands.
Although the hill is now a site for high tech communications, the hill was also the site of communication masts during WWII.

Its summit used to be commonly known locally as the "Tooer idda Wart" (Tower of the Ward), but the name has all but died out now. There also used to be two small lochs (lakes) very close to the summit, known as the "Lochs idda Wart" but these have not existed for some time, having been drained by construction work during WWII and afterwards. The summit also marks one of the points of the lines of division between ownership and occupancy rights of the hill.

Communications towers on the Ward of Scousburgh, Dunrossness. The tower to the left provides part of the link for digital TV services to Shetland, the highest microwave dish being the receiving end of a link form North Ronaldsay in Orkney. This link, at a distance of 54 miles, is the longest, ground to ground, microwave link in the UK. The tower to the right provides microwave links for BT.

Ward of Scousburgh looking north east over Spiggie Loch. Below the hill are the houses of Scousburgh, and to the right is South Scousburgh.