Baltasound

Baltasound (or Baltasund) is the largest settlement on the island of Unst in Shetland, Scotland. It comes from the Old Norse man's name Balti (Baltisund). Unst is the most northerly inhabited island in the United Kingdom. The village lies halfway along the island's east coast on a sheltered bay called Balta Sound. Baltasound was formerly the most important herring port in Shetland. In 1902 its catch exceeded that of the Shetland capital Lerwick. The herring trade declined rapidly after 1905 but the physical remains of the herring boom remained long after. Baltasound was the home of the noted Victorian botanist Thomas Edmondston, who was born at Buness House where his uncle, also called Thomas, was the laird. A memorial stone erected outside the house by the elder Thomas Edmondston commemorates scientific studies undertaken there by the French physicist Jean-Baptiste Biot. James Ingram (1776-1879)) was a prominent and influential minister in the parishes of Fetlar and Unst. Sinclair Ferguson theologian and academic, was the minister of St. John's, Baltasound for 10 years, starting in 1971. Baltasound can also lay claim to the most northerly "wood" in the British Isles, although it is not very substantial.