Symbister

Infobox UK place
official_name= Symbister
country= Scotland
population= 797
os_grid_reference= HU541625
latitude= 60.33
longitude= -1.04
post_town= SHETLAND
postcode_area= ZE
postcode_district= ZE2
dial_code=
constituency_westminster= Orkney and Shetland
civil_parish=
unitary_scotland= Shetland
lieutenancy_scotland= Shetland
constituency_scottish_parliament= Shetland

Symbister is the largest village on the island of Whalsay, Shetland. The focus of the village is the harbour, which is home to small fishing boats as well as large deep sea commercial trawlers. The village is overlooked by the granite mansion Symbister House, built by the Sixth Robert Bruce of Symbister in 1823.

The Pier House, now a museum, was once the centre for the export of dried and salted fish to the Hanseatic League, an alliance of trading guilds that established and maintained a trade monopoly over much of Northern Europe between the 13th and 17th centuries. The population in 1991 was 797.

A ferry to Laxo on the Shetland mainland operates from Symbister.

References

* [http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/whalsay/whalsay/ Whalsay feature page on Undiscovered Scotland]
* [http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/towns/townfirst3947.html Overview of Symbister, Gazeteer for Scotland]