List of Shetland islands

The Shetland archipelago
Up Helly Aa festival

This is a list of Shetland islands in Scotland. The Shetland archipelago is located 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of mainland Scotland and the capital Lerwick is almost equidistant from Bergen in Norway and Aberdeen in Scotland. The Shetland archipelago comprises about 300 islands and skerries, of which 16 are inhabited. In addition to the Shetland Mainland the larger islands are Unst, Yell and Fetlar.

The definition of an island used in this list is that it is land that is surrounded by seawater on a daily basis, but not necessarily at all stages of the tide, excluding human devices such as bridges and causeways.[1] There are four islands joined to the Shetland Mainland by bridges, East Burra, West Burra, Trondra, and Muckle Roe. There is also a bridge from Housay to Bruray.[2] Nowhere in Shetland is more than three miles (5 km) from the sea.[3] Mavis Grind (Old Norse for "gate of the narrow isthmus") is a narrow neck of land little more than 100 metres (328 feet) wide separating St. Magnus Bay and the Atlantic in the west from Sullom Voe and the North Sea in the east.[4]

The geology of Shetland is complex with numerous faults and fold axes. These islands are the northern outpost of the Caledonian orogeny and there are outcrops of Lewisian, Dalradian and Moine metamorphic rocks with similar histories to their equivalents on the Scottish mainland. Similarly, there are also Old Red Sandstone deposits and granite intrusions. The most distinctive feature is the ultrabasic ophiolite, peridotite and gabbro on Unst and Fetlar, which is a remnant of the Iapetus Ocean floor.[5] Much of the island's economy depends on the oil-bearing sediments in the surrounding seas.[6] In the post-glacial epoch, c. 8150 BC, the islands experienced a tsunami up to 20 metres high caused by the Storegga Slides, an immense underwater landslip off the coast of Norway.[7][8]

The islands all fall within the Shetland Islands Council local authority. They have been continuously inhabited since Neolithic times and experienced Norse rule for several centuries, the first written records being the Norse sagas.[3][9] The excavations at Jarlshof near the southern end of the Mainland have provided archaeological evidence of life in Shetland since Bronze Age times and the annual Up Helly Aa fire festivals are a living reminder of Shetland's Viking past.[10][11][12] The archipelago is exposed to wind and tide and there are numerous lighthouses as an aid to navigation.[13] A small wind farm on Shetland recently achieved a world record of 58% capacity over the course of a year.[14] The indigenous Shetland ponies are reputed for their strength and hardiness.[9]

Main list

Bressay Lighthouse at Kirkabister Ness, Shetland
Muckle Flugga lighthouse, Shetland
The broch on Mousa
The Mainland from Uyea
Lerwick
Jarlshof
The Mainland village of Aith

The Scalloway Islands are a small archipelago at the entrance to Weisdale Voe in the South West. The North Isles is the name given to the group including Yell, Unst and Fetlar. There are also numerous islands in Yell Sound between the Mainland and Yell and in St. Magnus Bay to the west, especially near the strait of Swarbacks Minn, but the number and diverse locations of the Shetland islands makes further classification difficult.

Records for the last date of settlement for the smaller uninhabited islands are incomplete, but all of the islands listed here would have been inhabited at some point during the Neolithic, Pictish or Norse periods.

'Ward' appears regularly as the name of the highest point on the island. The derivation of the name is from those high places being used for the lighting of warning beacons.[15]

The total population of the archipelago was 21,988 in 2001[16] and had grown to 23,167 by the time of the 2011 census.[17]

Island Location Area (ha)[18] Population[17] Last inhabited[19] Highest point[20] Height (m)[21]
Balta North Isles 80 0 Norse times or later Muckle Head 44
Bigga Yell Sound 78 0 1930s 34
Bressay East of Lerwick 2805 368 Ward of Bressay 226
Brother Isle Yell Sound 40 0 1820s? 25
Bruray Out Skerries 55 24 Bruray Ward 53
East Burra Scalloway Islands 515 76 Easter Heog 81
Fair Isle Outlier 768 68 Ward Hill 217
Fetlar North Isles 4078 61 Ward Hill 158
Foula Outlier 1265 38 The Sneug 418
Hascosay Colgrave Sound, Yell 275 0 1850s 30
Hildasay Scalloway Islands 108 0 1890s 32
Housay Out Skerries 163 50 North Hill 53
Lamba Yell Sound 43 0 unknown 35
Linga near Muckle Roe Swarbacks Minn 70 0 unknown 69
Linga Bluemull Sound, Yell 45 0 unknown 26
Mainland Mainland 96879 18765 Ronas Hill 450
Mousa East of Mainland 180 0 1841-60 Mid Field 55
Muckle Roe Swarbacks Minn 1773 130 Mid Ward 172
Noss Bressay 343 0 1930s Noup of Noss 181
Oxna Scalloway Islands 68 0 1901–1930 Muckle Ward 38
Papa Scalloway Islands 59 0 1891–1930 32
Papa Little Swarbacks Minn 226 0 1840s North Ward 82
Papa Stour St Magnus Bay 828 15 Virda Field 87
Samphrey Yell Sound 66 0 1841–1880 29
South Havra Scalloway Islands 59 0 1923 42
Trondra Scalloway Islands 275 135 60
Unst North Isles 12068 632 Saxa Vord 284
Uyea, Northmavine North Mainland 45 0 unknown 70
Uyea, Unst North Isles 205 0 1931-60 The Ward 50
Vaila Gruting Voe 327 2 East Ward 95
Vementry Swarbacks Minn 370 0 1840s Muckle Ward 90
West Burra Scalloway Islands 743 776 Hill of Sandwick 65
West Linga Whalsay 125 0 late 18th century 52
Whalsay Whalsay 1970 1061 Ward of Clett 119
Yell North Isles 21211 966 Hill of Arisdale 210

Smaller islets and skerries

Dore Holm
Baa Skerries, Unst
Noup of Noss
Muckle Ayre beach, Muckle Roe, looking across Swarbacks Minn
Moo Stack, Eshaness, Northmaven
Muckle Flaes and Vaila from the east
Out Stack, off Unst, the most northerly point in Scotland

This is a continuing list of uninhabited smaller Shetland islands, tidal islets only separated at higher stages of the tide, and skerries which are only exposed at lower stages of the tide. Many of these islets are called "Holm" from the Old Norse holmr, meaning a "small and rounded islet". "Swarta Skerry" (Old Norse:' svartar sker) - "black skerry" is also a common name, as are "Linga", meaning "heather island", "Taing" (Old Norse: tangi) meaning "tongue" and "Flaesh" (Old Norse: fles) meaning "flat skerry".[22] "Hog" and "calf" are used to indicate a small island, usually adjacent to a larger one.

Surrounding the mainland

a. ^ Lunna Holm to The Keen. b. ^ The Keen to Moul of Eswick. c. ^ Moul of Eswick to Easter Rova Head by Lerwick. d. ^ Easter Rova Head to St Ninian's Isle. e. ^ St Ninian's Isle to Usta Ness. f. ^ Usta Ness to Fora Ness. g. ^ Fora Ness to Face of Neeans. h. ^ Face of Neeans to Roe Sound. i. ^ Roe Sound to The Faither. j. ^ The Faither to Point of Fethaland. k. ^ Point of Fethaland to Lunna Holm.

Surrounding other islands

The skerries north of Unst including Vesta Skerry, Rumblings, Tipta Skerry, Muckle Flugga and Out Stack
Galti Stacks off Papa Stour with Fogla Skerry in the background.

In the vicinity of:

Tidal islands

St Ninian's Isle tombolo

St Ninian's Isle is connected to Mainland Shetland by the largest active tombolo in the United Kingdom. Although the 'isle' is greater than 40 hectares in size it fails to meet the definition of an island used in this list as it is only surrounded by water during occasional spring tides and storms.[23]

At spring tides The Huney also has a tombolo that connects it to Unst.

Marilyns

Peak Height (m) Prom. (m) Col (m) Grid ref. Parent Island
Ronas Hill 450 450 Sea HU305835 none Mainland
The Sneug 418 418 Sea HT947395 none Foula
Royl Field 293 287 6 HU396285 Ronas Hill Mainland
Saxa Vord 284 284 Sea HP631167 none Unst
Fitful Head 283 270 13 HU346135 Royl Field Mainland
Scalla Field 281 266 15 HU389572 Royl Field Mainland
Sandness Hill 249 226 23 HU191557 Scalla Field Mainland
Ward of Bressay 226 226 Sea HU502387 none Bressay
Ward Hill 217 217 Sea HZ208734 none Fair Isle
Hill of Arisdale 210 210 Sea HU495842 none Yell
Dalescord Hill 252 203 49 HU393684 Scalla Field Mainland
Valla Field 216 201 15 HP584078 Saxa Vord Unst
Noss Head 181 181 Sea HU553399 none Noss
The Noup 248 179 69 HT954375 The Sneug Foula
Scrae Field 216 178 38 HU417361 Royl Field Mainland
Mid Ward 172 172 Sea HU320652 none Muckle Roe
Ward of Scousburgh 263 166 97 HU388188 Royl Field Mainland
Vord Hill 159 159 Sea HU622935 none Fetlar
White Grunafirth 173 155 18 HU275807 Ronas Hill Mainland

See also

References and footnotes

General references
  • Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Maps Get-a-map. ordnancesurvey.co.uk Retrieved 15 January 2008.
  • Schei, Liv Kjørsvik (2006) The Shetland Isles. Grantown-on-Spey. Colin Baxter Photography. ISBN 978-1-84107-330-9
Specific references and notes
  1. ↑ Various other definitions are used in the Scottish context. For example the General Register Office for Scotland define an island as 'a mass of land surrounded by water, separate from the Scottish mainland' but although they include islands linked by bridges etc. this is not clear from this definition. Haswell-Smith (2004) uses 'an Island is a piece of land or group of pieces of land which is entirely surrounded by water at Lowest Astronomical Tide and to which there is no permanent means of dry access'. This is widely agreed to be unhelpful as it consciously excludes bridged islands.
  2. ↑ Haswell-Smith (2004) page 460.
  3. 1 2 "Walk in Scotland: Orkney and Shetland" Visit Scotland. Retrieved 15 July 2007.
  4. ↑ "Mavis Grind" Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 28 July 2007.
  5. ↑ Gillen, Con (2003) Geology and landscapes of Scotland. Harpenden. Terra. Pages 90-1.
  6. ↑ Keay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland. London. HarperCollins.
  7. ↑ "Study Sees North Sea Tsunami Risk" Speigel Online. Retrieved 28 July 2007.
  8. ↑ Bondevik, Stein; Dawson, Sue; Dawson, Alastair; Lohne, Øystein (5 August 2003). "Record-breaking Height for 8000-Year-Old Tsunami in the North Atlantic" (PDF). EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union. 84 (31): 289, 293. Bibcode:2003EOSTr..84..289B. doi:10.1029/2003EO310001. Retrieved 15 January 2007.
  9. 1 2 "A History of Shetland" Visit Shetland. Retrieved 25 July 2007.
  10. ↑ Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 437
  11. ↑ Schei (2006) pp. 198-99
  12. ↑ "Up Helly Aa 1998" up-helly-aa.org.uk. Retrieved 11 August 2007.
  13. ↑ "Lighthouse Library" Northern Lighthouse Board. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  14. ↑ "Burradale Wind Farm Shetland Islands" REUK.co.uk. Retrieved April 2007. This record is claimed by Burradale windfarm located just a few miles outside Lerwick and operated by Shetland Aerogenerators Ltd. Since opening in 2000 with three Vestas V47 660 kW turbines, this wind farm has had an average capacity factor of 52% and, according to this report, in 2005 averaged a world record 57.9%.
  15. ↑ "Orkney Placenames - natural features" Orkneyjar.com. Retrieved 15 July 2007.
  16. ↑ General Register Office for Scotland (28 November 2003) Scotland's Census 2001 – Occasional Paper No 10: Statistics for Inhabited Islands. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
  17. 1 2 National Records of Scotland (15 August 2013) (pdf) Statistical Bulletin: 2011 Census: First Results on Population and Household Estimates for Scotland - Release 1C (Part Two). "Appendix 2: Population and households on Scotland’s inhabited islands". Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  18. ↑ Haswell-Smith (2004) save those indicated with an asterisk, which are estimates based on Ordnance Survey maps and General Register Office for Scotland (2003) statistics.
  19. ↑ For uninhabited islands indicates the last known date of permanent, year round settlement. Information is from Haswell-Smith (2004) save those indicated with a separate footnote.
  20. ↑ Haswell-Smith (2004) and Ordnance Survey maps.
  21. ↑ Ordnance Survey maps. Note that the maps mark the height above sea level of an elevated place on most islands, but in a small number of cases, this may not be the highest point.
  22. ↑ Waugh, Doreen J., Orkney Place-names in Omand, Donald (ed.) (2003) The Orkney Book. Edinburgh, Birlinn. Page 119.
  23. ↑ "St Ninian's Isle" Shetlopedia. Retrieved 3 March 2008.

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