Kate Humble – Shetland's incredible 'treasure island'

Most visitors to Shetland’s famous St Ninian’s Isle are drawn there by the spectacular white sand tombolo that links the island to the South Mainland.

The island and the pristine beach, with water lapping at both sides, is often described as a natural treasure. But for centuries, treasure of a different kind was buried on St Ninian’s Isle – boxed up and hidden under a stone slab.

It stayed that way until 1958, when it was discovered by a teenage schoolboy. This is the remarkable story of how it was discovered.

Follow Kate as she travels from Sumburgh Head in Shetland's South Mainland to the northernmost tip of Unst, meeting many locals along the way. Watch the full film now.

In the summer of that year, Douglas Coutts, aged 15 at the time, gave up his school summer holidays to volunteer on an archaeological dig at St Ninian’s Isle.

Archaeologists had been working on the site for several years, slowly exposing more of the site and its secrets. But nobody was expecting the astonishing discovery made by Douglas.

First, it’s important to consider the context of the site, its history, and the excavation over many years.

Standing on the same spot, 64 years later, Douglas regales the history of the St Ninian’s chapel and how it was used as a burial ground from the Iron Age right up until the mid-19^th century.

“This is a medieval chapel, what you see today, the walls, probably date to around 900-1100 AD. The site was extended around 1100-1200 AD the curved apse where the altar is was added.”

Much of this history had been lost, says Douglas, until Professor Andrew O’Dell from the University of Aberdeen was given permission to lead a team of archaeologists excavating the site during the 1950s.

The dig generated understandable interest in Shetland, including from the young Douglas Coutts.

“During the excavations there were signs of stonework underneath the walls, to suggest there had been a previous and earlier chapel, the more recent one being built on top of it…

“In 1955 when Prof O’Dell came here this was just a hill with no visible stonework to indicate that there was anything underneath.”

There were however clues kept alive in local lore. “There’s a map dated 1608, a Timothy Pont’s map of Shetland, that showed a cross roughly around this part of the island near the isthmus.

“In 1700 there was a writer, Brand, who was describing Shetland at the time. He came here and was able to see a ruined chapel in 1700. Another visitor came in 1861 and there was nothing to be seen, the chapel was completely covered and had disappeared under the ground.”

That is how it remained until the 1950s.

Prof O’Dell and his team first began excavating in 1955, after a trial pit revealed where the chapel altar was.

Over several years, about five feet of sand and earth was removed unveiling more of the ancient structure, and revealing what the inside of the chapel would have been like. Each year Prof. O’Dell would give a lecture in Shetland updating the local community about the latest discoveries.

Douglas recalls, “My dad noticed in the newspaper that there was to be a meeting in the spring of 1958. We went along … and at the end of the lecture, Prof O’Dell said that anyone who wanted to come along, and volunteer, we would be grateful.

“I was the only one at that meeting that volunteered, and I came along to the chapel in my school holidays of 1958.”

His first day of volunteering was unforgettable.

“I arrived on site, and it was, ‘Well what can we get Douglas to do?’. I was given an introduction to trowelling work, and they looked around and said, ‘Here’s a corner that we haven’t touched, so if you would just scrape away here with your trowel and if there’s anything unusual that you happen to hit upon give us a call’.

“I was trowelling away, scraping away at this clay soil and I hit a stone and I scraped around it and cleared out. It was about 18-inches by 14-inches, a flat stone, and I lifted it up, I prised it up.

“Underneath there was a hollow with a round object that looked like it might be a helmet of some kind. When I saw that I went over to the professor and said there’s something unusual here, maybe you need to come and have a look at it.

“So he came over and his jaw dropped – and he asked me to stand out of the way when he called on the more experienced excavators to come and work on this.

‘They managed to trace around this block of earth and lift it out onto a board of some kind and have it carried away.”

Of course, analysis revealed the Douglas had unearthed one of the most significant hauls of treasure ever discovered in Scotland.

The “helmet” he discovered was in fact one of eight silver bowls, buried under the stone, stored in a wooden box that had long ago rotted away.

Along with the bowls were a spoon, fork, 12 brooches and scabbard decorations all made of silver, as well as carved porpoise bone.

“The theory is that there might have been a Viking raid and these Pictish people were hurriedly finding their valuables. That was thought to be an indication of the hurriedness, that the bowls were stacked upside down. You just cram all your stuff into the box and run.”

It’s interesting to note that the box itself had been made of larch, a species that wasn’t introduced to British shores until the 18^th century, meaning the wood had been imported. But more remarkable is the fact it was found at all – by a volunteer schoolboy.

“It was quite a thought to think that somewhere about 800AD somebody hid that box in here and then I came along in 1958 and lifted the lid. It was a strange thought to think the last pair of human eyes to look at that was 800AD, before I came along.”

To add to the extraordinariness of the story was the fact that so much silver – 28 pieces – was kept in one place.

Previous only single pieces of Pictish jewellery had been found, making the haul unearthed by Douglas unique.

• The chapel where the St Ninian’s Isle treasure is accessible by foot. Parking is available off the farm track which leads to the beach. To reach the island, walk across the tombolo and ascend the path onto the island, the chapel is on the western side, looking back across the beach. Replicas of the treasure are kept in Shetland Museum in Lerwick, with the originals held by the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Whether you're inspired by treasure, wildlife, or spectacular beaches, start planning your own precious trip to Shetland,