Designating memorial drinking fountain to the ‘Diana’ whaling vessel in Lerwick

Closed 27 Aug 2025

Opened 6 Aug 2025

Contact

Designations

0131 668 8914

designations@hes.scot

Overview

We propose to designate the memorial drinking fountain to the ‘Diana’ whaling vessel in Lerwick as a listed building.

The drinking fountain, located on Victoria Pier, dates from 1890 and commemorates the ill-fated voyage and return of the Diana whaling ship in 1866-67 to Baffin Bay in Greenland. Made by James Hunter of Aberdeen, it is constructed in contrasting pink and grey granite and has a later stylised chalice sculpture. Shetland played a significant role in the commercial whaling industry in the Arctic, and later the Antarctic fisheries, from the 18th century to the mid-20th century.

We are now gathering views on our proposal to list this building at category C.

Read more about why we think this fountain meets the criteria for listing by downloading our Report of Handling.

Memorial drinking fountain to the Diana. The fountain is pink and grey granite, and sits atop top blocks with lengthy 'In memory of' inscription. Snow covered the bricks stones surrounding the fountain. And in the background there is a carpark and a docked yellow ship.

Memorial drinking fountain on Victoria Pier © Historic Environment Scotland

How we designate listed buildings

We list buildings of special architectural or historic interest. A dedicated team researches and assesses all designation applications.

You can find out more about listed buildings in the Advice and Support section of the Historic Environment Scotland website, and read our Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019).

To merit listing, the structure must meet set listing criteria.

Find out about the listing process.

Why your views matter

We’d like to know whether you agree with our proposal.

To help you respond to the following survey, please read why we think the memorial drinking fountain to the ‘Diana’ whaling vessel meets the criteria for listing by downloading our Report of Handling.

You can tell us if you agree with our proposal by completing the short questionnaire below.

This questionnaire usually takes 5-10 minutes to complete.

Find out what comments we consider and what happens next in our consultation guide or watch our designations video on YouTube.

You can also watch a version of this video in British Sign Language.