Quinsetter is a ruined crofthouse on the West Side of Shetland. It has an importance to two groups of people – those whose ancestors came from there and the Methodist church in Shetland.

The croft was home for over 200 years to the Nicolson family and still belongs to a descendant of the family.  It is unusual for a croft to be held for one family for so long. It was abandoned in the 1930’s as the last inhabitants died. The decline in the house’s fortunes was not helped when Zetland County Council refused to put in a road.

The Nicolson family originally came from the adjacent island of Papa Little. One ‘Nicole in Papa Little’ was before the ‘foud’ (legal officer) concerning the ‘kenning’ mark of his sheep at the very beginning of the seventeenth century  which suggests that he was resident on the island, even if only as a sheep farmer. He appears as Nicol Olasone in Papa Little, cited with many others in an action raised by Marjorie Fermor and Andro Mortoun in 1614. The family story is that Nicol had three sons, Nicol, Anders and Erasmus. These three were the founders of the Nicolson, Anderson and Erasmuson families respectively.

Recorded family history begins with Thomas Nicolson marrying Inga Irvine ,whose family lived there, about 1710.

Quinsetter lies on the West Side of the Shetland mainland, between East Burrafirth and Gonfirth. The road between those two places goes over the hill, avoiding the coast. When it was occupied it was reached by sea or by walking over the hill. It is ironic that now Quinsetter and its neighbouring crofts can easily be reached by a road built for a salmon farm over the hill from Gonfirth.

Quinsetter is the last habitation along the coast in the parish of Aithsting. The parish boundary is the Mill Burn, about 100 yards to the North. Beyond the burn, in Delting, is the house of Millburn, then the Laedie and Houbinsetter. These four crofts formed a tight knit little community.

The croft is still owned by descendants of the Nicolson family.

© John N Hunter 2017-2024