About
Tangwick Haa Museum occupies a restored seventeenth-century laird's house — a 'haa', the Shetland dialect term for the substantial stone houses built by the islands' landowning families — standing in a spectacular coastal position near Eshaness in Northmavine, the dramatic northern peninsula of Shetland's Mainland renowned for its volcanic cliff scenery and lighthouse. Run by local volunteers, the museum tells the story of Northmavine's crofting and fishing communities across several centuries, using the historic building itself, once home to the Cheyne family of lairds, as an evocative setting for a collection built substantially from photographs, objects and personal testimony gathered from the district's own families.
Northmavine's remoteness, even by Shetland's own considerable standards of isolation, shaped a community whose survival depended on a finely balanced combination of small-scale crofting agriculture and fishing, both deep-sea and inshore, carried out from a landscape as scenically spectacular as it is agriculturally unforgiving — dramatic sea cliffs, volcanic rock formations, and a coastline exposed to the full force of the North Atlantic. The museum's collections document this dual crofting-and-fishing economy in careful detail: the small boats and gear used for inshore fishing, the sixareen and later motorised vessels that ventured further into treacherous northern waters, and the crofting practices adapted to Shetland's thin, wind-scoured soils and short growing season.
The museum's substantial photographic archive, much of it contributed directly by Northmavine families over the decades, provides an unusually rich visual record of this remote district's community life, capturing crofting and fishing work, domestic scenes, and the distinctive character of Shetland vernacular building and landscape across more than a century of documented local history. The haa building itself, with its restored period rooms and architectural features, offers a tangible sense of the social hierarchy that once structured island life, in which a small number of laird families such as the Cheynes held disproportionate influence over the crofting tenants who worked their land — a social structure whose legacy remains woven into the fabric of Shetland's history even as the museum's own community-driven creation reflects a very different, more democratic relationship to local heritage today.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Check seasonal opening dates before travelling, as this remote museum typically opens May to September only.
- Combine your visit with the dramatic Eshaness cliffs and lighthouse, a short drive away, for one of Shetland's most spectacular coastal walks.
- Ask volunteer stewards about specific Northmavine family names if you have Shetland ancestry — many are highly knowledgeable about local genealogy.
- Allow plenty of travel time, as Northmavine is a genuinely remote peninsula reached by narrow rural roads from Lerwick.
- The museum's community photography archive rewards a slow, careful look — ask staff if particular images or family names interest you.
- Bring warm, weatherproof clothing regardless of season, as Shetland's coastal weather can change rapidly.
- A car is by far the most practical way to reach Tangwick Haa, given the very limited local bus services in this part of Shetland.
Highlights
Tangwick Haa — The Cheyne Family Laird's House
The museum's own building, a restored seventeenth-century haa, was once the home of the Cheyne family, lairds whose landholding gave them considerable influence over the crofting tenants who worked the surrounding land, and the building's restoration and interpretation forms a central part of the visitor experience, with period rooms and architectural features illustrating the social hierarchy that once structured island life.
This display explains the haa system of laird's houses found across Shetland and Orkney, and the particular history of the Cheyne family's tenure at Tangwick, situating the building within the wider pattern of landed estate structures in the Northern Isles.
Crofting Life in Northmavine
Northmavine's crofting communities adapted their agricultural practices to some of the most challenging farming conditions found anywhere in Scotland — thin, wind-scoured soils, a short growing season, and a landscape shaped by dramatic volcanic geology rather than gentle arable land — and this gallery documents the practical realities of crofting life in this remote district through tools, photographs and oral testimony gathered from local families.
The displays cover the annual agricultural cycle and the township and common grazing structures that organised crofting communities across Shetland, giving visitors insight into a farming tradition shaped as much by necessity as by choice.
Fishing the Northern Waters
Fishing, both inshore and further offshore, formed the essential counterpart to crofting in Northmavine's mixed subsistence economy, and this display documents the boats, gear and working practices of local fishermen across the centuries, from traditional sixareen rowing and sailing boats through to later motorised vessels, operating in some of the most exposed and unpredictable waters around the British Isles.
The exhibits convey both the practical skill and the genuine physical danger involved in fishing from this remote and weather-battered stretch of Shetland coastline.
The Northmavine Photography Archive
The museum's substantial photographic archive, contributed directly by Northmavine families over several decades, provides an unusually rich visual record of this remote district's community life, documenting crofting and fishing work, domestic scenes, and the distinctive character of Shetland vernacular building and landscape across more than a century of local history.
This community-authored collection gives the museum a genuinely personal and locally rooted character, reflecting what Northmavine families themselves chose to preserve and share of their own history.
Collections
Tangwick Haa Museum documents the crofting and fishing life of remote Northmavine, Shetland, using the restored seventeenth-century laird's house of the Cheyne family as its evocative setting. A substantial community-contributed photography archive, alongside crofting and fishing equipment and material on Shetland knitting traditions and emigration, gives visitors an unusually rich picture of everyday life in one of Scotland's most isolated and scenically dramatic districts.
Tangwick Haa and the Cheyne Family
The restored seventeenth-century laird's house and its social history within Shetland's landed estate structure.
Crofting and Fishing in Northmavine
The dual crofting-and-fishing economy that sustained Northmavine's remote community across several centuries.
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.