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Centre Hillier (CI52d-SW entrance)

The Ruff, Sheep Rock, Fair Isle, Shetland.

The Hilliers: "Three natural arches running through Sheep Craig near the south end. The centre one is deep and lofty and admits of a boat being rowed through it; about the centre, where the outer arch joins the middle one, it opens out into a large and lofty chamber upwards of 200 ft high - and is one of the grandest scenes in the northern Isles. The inner or northern arch is dry, and the outer or southern one is partly dry from the eastern entrance to where it joins the middle arch." [OS Namebook p90]

This is the NW tunnel of two which go right through - as can be seen in photo 2. The tunnels join for roughly 1/3 of their length in the middle. The height suggested in the above quote is possible, as the OS contour overhead is 70 m asl (200 ft = 61 m), but unlikely.

Alternative Names: The Heelors

Notes: The length is estimated as follows: 119 + 116 (end to end lengths of CI52d and CI52c) - 39 (estimated shared length inside) + 10 m (Rpt 1145 estimated length of CI53a tunnel) + 5 (estimate of the distance between the two tunnels CI53a and CI52d).

VR is a guesstimate, as is the altitude which is ACD.

'Hillier': there are four other 'Hiller's noted in the OS Namebook for Fairisle - such as Hunds Hillier. These are all described as 'creeks'. So it is not entirely clear why the tunnels through Sheep Rock are also 'Hilliers'. In the Aberdeenshire context they would likely be termed 'Subterraneous passage's.

'Natural Arch': while it is a grey area as to how long an arch has to be before it becomes a cave or tunnel, generally speaking it might be where the length is 2 or 3 times the vertical aperture. However, the Namebook description here uses 'arch' to describe tunnels which are 10 or more times longer than the vertical aperture. It is clear that 'arch' is a synonym for 'tunnel' or 'through cave' in this context.

Needs a length survey to confirm the length; and a visit with powerful lights to see how big the central cavern is. There is also the possiblity of a connection to tunnels from some of the other nearby entrances - eg CI52a.