Railway development as Symbolising ideas of social construction: (With Special Reference to Railway Development in Australia)

The townscape of “old” Lerwick reflects its traditional focus on the sea for its economic base. The major elements in this cohesive visual character are the closely clustered houses in the steep hillside district of the Lanes, the narrow, winding principal commercial street, and the lodberries projecting out into the harbour. The latter were constructed to meet the needs of the prosperous expanding trade period of the latter half of the 18th century and first half of the 19th century. Harbour improvements in the final quarter‐century of the 1800s ended their commercial usefulness. After a century of declining use and of neglect they are being restored as part of the renewal of “old town” Lerwick.