Dunrossness Primary Pupils Complete Sumburgh Graffiti Project

Published: 22 May 2013

Primary Four Pupils from Dunrossness with their Graffiti BoardsZoomPupils from Dunrossness Primary School have been taking part in an art project which will see their work preserved in the fabric of the newly restored buildings at Sumburgh Head for future generations to discover.

Pieces of 'graffiti' in the form of blocks of wood with written messages were discovered when the sash windows in some of the buildings were removed for restoration during the current construction works. Project Leaders, Shetland Amenity Trust, approached Dunrossness Primary School headteacher, Lesley Simpson with a request for the pupils to provide new artwork on pieces of wood which will be installed when the windows are re-fitted.

Matt Arnold, Interpretation Officer shows pupils one of the restored windows. With Zahra Skene, Emma Burgess, Bruce Johnson, Cole Campbell, Stuart Lobban and Iona LeslieZoomPupils from the primary four class have created their graffiti pieces and some of them visited the site at Sumburgh Head today to see where their works of art will be installed.

 The Lighthouse tower at Sumburgh Head was constructed in 1821, however other buildings such as the engine room and foghorn tower were constructed later, around 1906/07. Joiners fitting the windows during the construction of these later buildings, left pieces of wood in the pockets, or void spaces, around the windows with handwritten messages. This is common practice in construction and the messages were a mix of comments about the boss being away, bad food from the cook, religious text and even a complaint about a particularly lazy colleague who would not get out of bed, even with a glass of spirit to coax him. There was even a list of all the workers on-site with their job titles and where they came from. Original piece of 'graffiti'Zoom

The windows have been restored locally by Shetland Amenity Trust staff, and are now being re-fitted with the new messages from Dunrossness Primary pupils for future generations to find.