The Radar Station at Unst

Shetland War Ruins Project

Images from:http://ahistoryofrafsaxavord.blogspot.co.uk/

High on the hill at Saxa Vord is a radar station, a strange futuristic construction although built in WWII and used throughout the Cold War era and until very recent times. The dome of the radar is a striking presence in the landscape, whilst surrounding Modernist-like buildings are ambiguous, neutral and box-like, coldly utilitarian, giving a sense of secrecy and of hidden and sinister technological operations.

In the last two photographs here, the sea vast and blue stretches on into the distance, a presence of pure and eternal open space. Looking out to sea would in wartime have however also meant looking out to the intangible and unseen enemy across the waters. The ruins here were part of a larger defence and surveillance network built in World War II across the island and the whole of Shetland. The site of Skaw in its remote location has this atmosphere of being on the edge, a remote outpost where vast, unknown forces can be felt, and threat of destruction and ruination.