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

From 6 August 2025 to 27 August 2025, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) sought views on a proposal to list the memorial drinking fountain to the ‘Diana’ whaling vessel in Lerwick.

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.

Through Citizen Space, we invited members of the public to tell us if they agreed with the proposed designation and if they had further comments to make.

We consulted directly with the owners, the leasee and Shetland Islands Council as the planning authority.

Our selection guidance for designation and the policies we work to are published in the Designations Policy and Selection Guidance document.  

We received a total of 10 responses to the consultation.

We received two written responses: one from the local authority and one from the owner. Both of these confirmed the correct owners of the fountain. Neither response provided comments on the special architectural or historic interest of the fountain.

We received eight responses from private individuals via our Citizen Space survey. These all strongly agreed with our proposal and only two had further comments to add, of which one asked to remain anonymous.

The responses to consultation did not raise any issues that put into question the special architectural or historic interest of the building under review.

After considering the comments received during consultation, we have updated our report of handling as required and we have listed the fountain at category C as Memorial Drinking Fountain to the ‘Diana’ whaling vessel and its crew, Victoria Pier, Lerwick.

We have published a Report on Handling for this case on the Heritage Portal.