B9059

The B9059 follows Shapinsay's south coast.

Howe

The route starts by the harbour in Balfour and heads north past a roadside weighbridge and the ferry pier and on to the main street. This row of old stone houses stands on the left looking out across their shoreside gardens, with the road running between. At the end, two substantial freestanding stone pillars mark the entrance to Balfour Castle, which stands back in its extensive grounds behind the village. From here, the route turns eastwards, curving around the northern shore of Elwick, the large sheltered bay around which the village is built. Just over half a mile later, after leaving the last houses of the village behind, the B9058 turns off to serve the north of the island. Maps show that the B9059 becomes single-track at this point but in reality there is no visible change.

The route is largely flat and more-or-less straight for a couple of miles as it crosses the patchwork of small square and rectilinear fields which cover the island. There are a scattering of houses and farms along the way, all enjoying the views out across Shapinsay Sound to the Orkney Mainland beyond. Eventually the route bends sharply to the right at Purtaquoy, and continues south for a few hundred metres until it reaches the driveway for Sandgarth, just before Newlot farmyard where it apparently ends as it turns into a farm track.

History

The B9059 has been considerably extended since it was first classified in 1922, with additions at either end. Originally it was the B9058 that served Balfour and the harbour, and the B9059 started at the junction between the two routes; it is not known when the two numbers were swapped, but certainly before 1949. At the opposite end, the B9059 originally ended at Purtaquoy, but was extended to the end of the route at some point in the 1950s, based on the available mapping evidence.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Balfour - Pertaquoy