Outer Skerries
Encyclopedia
The Out Skerries are an archipelago
in Shetland, Scotland
, lying to the east of the main Shetland Island group. Locally, they are usually called Da Skerries or just Skerries.
and Bound Skerry
forms the easternmost part of Scotland
, lying 320 kilometres (198.8 mi) from Norway
. The main islands are Housay
, Bruray
and Grunay
.
A large number of islets and stacks surround the main group. These include the Hevda Skerries and Wether Holm to the north, the Holm to the south and Lamba Stack and Flat Lamba Stack to the east. Stoura Stack and the Hogg are to the south of Grunay. Bound Skerry, which has a lighthouse, is flanked by Little Bound Skerry and Horn Skerry.
Beyond Mio Ness at the south west tip of Housay are North and South Benelip and the Easter Skerries, as well as Filla, Short & Long Guen (the Guens), Bilia Skerry, and Swaba Stack. In an isolated group between the main Out Skerries and the Mainland, are Little Skerry and the Vongs, and Muckle Skerry is another outlier lying further north.
words. Austr means "east" and may have been used to distinguish Out Skerries from Ve Skerries
or "west skerries", and utsker means "outer". "Skerry
" is from the Old Norse sker and refers to a small rocky island or a rocky reef.
Housay is from the Old Norse Húsey meaning "horse island" although this name is now little used by locals, who prefer "West Isle". Bruray may be from the Norse brú and mean "bridge island" due to its position between West Isle and Grunay, the latter meaning simply "green island". The derivation of Bound Skerry is more problematic but may be from bønn, meaning "forerunner", a reference to this being the first land a ship encounters en route to Shetland from Bergen
.
inhabitation including two house sites at Queyness. The Battle Pund is a 13 metres (42.7 ft) across rectangle marked out by boulders dating from the Bronze Age
. It is similar to a structure at Hjaltadans
in Fetlar
, but its purpose is unknown.
There is a massive ruined structure on the north shore of Grunay known locally as "the broch
" although it is not known if it dates from the Iron Age
, when such structures were built throughout the far north of Scotland. The name "Benelips" possibly originating from the Old Norse
bon meaning "to pray" hints at the existence of an early Christian hermitage on these remote islets.
Dey (1991) speculates that the folklore of the troll
-like trows, and perhaps that of the selkie
may be based in part on the Norse
invasions of the Northern Isles
. She states that the conquest by the Vikings sent the indigenous, dark-haired Picts
into hiding and that "many stories exist in Shetland of these strange people, smaller and darker than the tall, blond Vikings who, having been driven off their land into sea caves, emerged at night to steal from the new land owners." The skerry of Trollsholm and its cleft of Trolli Geo indicate the presence of this folklore on Out Skerries.
There are a number of shipwrecks around the islands include the Dutch vessels Kemmerland (1664) and De Leifde (1711); and North Wind (1906), which was carrying wood which was salvaged and used by the islanders for their houses. Some of the gold from these wrecks was found in 1960.
Due to their remote and rugged nature, the islanders were accused of smuggling and wrecking. Tammy Tyrie's Hidey Hol was used by islanders to avoid press gang
s.
Until the early 20th century, a lot of haaf fishing was conducted from sixareen
s.
, although initially no-one knew how to use it. German planes frequently flew over at low altitudes, machine gunning the Grunay lighthouse shore station in 1941 and dropping a bomb in 1942. The latter attack killed Mary Anderson, the only local casualty of the war and Grunay was evacuated shortly thereafter. A month later a Canadian bomber crashed on Grunay and in 1990, a plaque was raised to commemorate this event. During the war an official letter was sent in secret to the local sub-postmistress with instructions that it be opened in the event of a German invasion. After the war it was returned, unopened.
and Bruray
, which are linked by a bridge. The population is around half what it was in the mid-19th century.
The islands have a primary and secondary school, two shops, a fish processing factory, an airstrip, and a church, and a police station. The secondary school is the smallest in the UK; in 2010 the school had only three pupils. The main industry on the islands is fishing. There is a church on Housay.
There is little peat
on the Out Skerries, so the residents have been granted rights to cut it on Whalsay
.
The Skerries Bridge, which links Bruray to Housay was built in 1957, replacing the first bridge built in 1899.
There is around a mile of road, along which most of the population lives.
There is a ferry to the islands from Vidlin
and Lerwick
.
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
in Shetland, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, lying to the east of the main Shetland Island group. Locally, they are usually called Da Skerries or just Skerries.
Geography
The Out Skerries lie about four miles north east of WhalsayWhalsay
-Geography:Whalsay, also known as "The Bonnie Isle", is a peat-covered island in the Shetland Islands. It is situated east of the Shetland Mainland and has an area of . The main settlement is Symbister, where the fishing fleet is based. The fleet is composed of both pelagic and demersal vessels...
and Bound Skerry
Bound Skerry
Bound Skerry is part of the Out Skerries group in the Shetland Islands. As well as being the most easterly island of that group, it is also the easternmost point of Scotland....
forms the easternmost part of Scotland
Extreme points of the United Kingdom
This is a list of the extreme points of the United Kingdom: the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location. Traditionally the extent of the island of Great Britain has stretched "from Land's End to John o' Groats" .This article does not include references to the...
, lying 320 kilometres (198.8 mi) from Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. The main islands are Housay
Housay
Housay, also known as West Isle, is one of the three islands that form the Out Skerries island group, the most easterly part of the Shetland Isles...
, Bruray
Bruray
Bruray is one of the three Out Skerries islands of Shetland, and contains Scotland's most easterly settlement.It is separated from Housay by North Mouth and South Mouth.-Infrastructure:...
and Grunay
Grunay
Grunay is an uninhabited island in the Out Skerries group, the most easterly part of Shetland, Scotland.The island is the site of the lighthouse keeper's house for the lighthouse on the nearby Bound Skerry. This house was abandoned following the automation of the light in 1972.A Blenheim IV bomber...
.
A large number of islets and stacks surround the main group. These include the Hevda Skerries and Wether Holm to the north, the Holm to the south and Lamba Stack and Flat Lamba Stack to the east. Stoura Stack and the Hogg are to the south of Grunay. Bound Skerry, which has a lighthouse, is flanked by Little Bound Skerry and Horn Skerry.
Beyond Mio Ness at the south west tip of Housay are North and South Benelip and the Easter Skerries, as well as Filla, Short & Long Guen (the Guens), Bilia Skerry, and Swaba Stack. In an isolated group between the main Out Skerries and the Mainland, are Little Skerry and the Vongs, and Muckle Skerry is another outlier lying further north.
Etymology
Most of the Skerries placenames have a Norse origin. The "Out" name derives from one or both of two Old NorseOld Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
words. Austr means "east" and may have been used to distinguish Out Skerries from Ve Skerries
Ve Skerries
Ve Skerries, , are a group of low skerries 3 miles north west of Papa Stour, on the west coast of Shetland.-Skerries:The individual skerries are; North Skerry, Ormal, The Clubb, Reaverack, and Helligobolo.- Ve Skerries Lighthouse :...
or "west skerries", and utsker means "outer". "Skerry
Skerry
A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low sea stack....
" is from the Old Norse sker and refers to a small rocky island or a rocky reef.
Housay is from the Old Norse Húsey meaning "horse island" although this name is now little used by locals, who prefer "West Isle". Bruray may be from the Norse brú and mean "bridge island" due to its position between West Isle and Grunay, the latter meaning simply "green island". The derivation of Bound Skerry is more problematic but may be from bønn, meaning "forerunner", a reference to this being the first land a ship encounters en route to Shetland from Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
.
Prehistory
There is evidence of NeolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
inhabitation including two house sites at Queyness. The Battle Pund is a 13 metres (42.7 ft) across rectangle marked out by boulders dating from the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
. It is similar to a structure at Hjaltadans
Hjaltadans
Hjaltadans, also known as Fairy Ring or Haltadans stone circle, is a stone circle on the island of Fetlar in Shetland, Scotland. This site is a ring of 38 stones, of which 22 are still fixed in the soil, and it is in diameter. Inside this is an earthen ring in diameter, with a gap in the...
in Fetlar
Fetlar
Fetlar is one of the North Isles of Shetland, Scotland, with a population of 86 at the time of the 2001 census. Its main settlement is Houbie on the south coast, home to the Fetlar Interpretive Centre...
, but its purpose is unknown.
There is a massive ruined structure on the north shore of Grunay known locally as "the broch
Broch
A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure of a type found only in Scotland. Brochs include some of the most sophisticated examples of drystone architecture ever created, and belong to the classification "complex Atlantic Roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s....
" although it is not known if it dates from the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
, when such structures were built throughout the far north of Scotland. The name "Benelips" possibly originating from the Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
bon meaning "to pray" hints at the existence of an early Christian hermitage on these remote islets.
Dey (1991) speculates that the folklore of the troll
Troll
A troll is a supernatural being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In origin, the term troll was a generally negative synonym for a jötunn , a being in Norse mythology...
-like trows, and perhaps that of the selkie
Selkie
Selkies are mythological creatures that are found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish, and Scottish folklore....
may be based in part on the Norse
Norsemen
Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...
invasions of the Northern Isles
Northern Isles
The Northern Isles is a chain of islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The climate is cool and temperate and much influenced by the surrounding seas. There are two main island groups: Shetland and Orkney...
. She states that the conquest by the Vikings sent the indigenous, dark-haired Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
into hiding and that "many stories exist in Shetland of these strange people, smaller and darker than the tall, blond Vikings who, having been driven off their land into sea caves, emerged at night to steal from the new land owners." The skerry of Trollsholm and its cleft of Trolli Geo indicate the presence of this folklore on Out Skerries.
Historic period
The Out Skerries have been permanently inhabited from the Norse period onwards.There are a number of shipwrecks around the islands include the Dutch vessels Kemmerland (1664) and De Leifde (1711); and North Wind (1906), which was carrying wood which was salvaged and used by the islanders for their houses. Some of the gold from these wrecks was found in 1960.
Due to their remote and rugged nature, the islanders were accused of smuggling and wrecking. Tammy Tyrie's Hidey Hol was used by islanders to avoid press gang
Press gang
Press gang may refer to:*Impressment, the practice of 'pressing' men into military service*Press Gang, the British children's television series...
s.
Until the early 20th century, a lot of haaf fishing was conducted from sixareen
Sixareen
The sixareen or sixern is a traditional fishing boat used around the Shetland Islands. It is a clinker-built boat, evolved as a larger version of the yoal, when the need arose for crews to fish further from shore...
s.
World War II
Being so close to Norway, the islands were of strategic importance in World War II and were a regular landfall for Norwegian boats carrying escapees from the Nazi occupation. The local coastguard were responsible for the refugees and at one point during the war were issued with a tommy gunTommy Gun
Tommy Gun may refer to:*Thompson submachine gun or Tommy gun, a submachine gun*"Tommy Gun" , a song by The Clash...
, although initially no-one knew how to use it. German planes frequently flew over at low altitudes, machine gunning the Grunay lighthouse shore station in 1941 and dropping a bomb in 1942. The latter attack killed Mary Anderson, the only local casualty of the war and Grunay was evacuated shortly thereafter. A month later a Canadian bomber crashed on Grunay and in 1990, a plaque was raised to commemorate this event. During the war an official letter was sent in secret to the local sub-postmistress with instructions that it be opened in the event of a German invasion. After the war it was returned, unopened.
Population
The population of the Out Skerries is 76, and lives entirely on HousayHousay
Housay, also known as West Isle, is one of the three islands that form the Out Skerries island group, the most easterly part of the Shetland Isles...
and Bruray
Bruray
Bruray is one of the three Out Skerries islands of Shetland, and contains Scotland's most easterly settlement.It is separated from Housay by North Mouth and South Mouth.-Infrastructure:...
, which are linked by a bridge. The population is around half what it was in the mid-19th century.
Economy and transport
The soil in the islands is thin and infertile, but is heaped into riggs, for better cultivation of potatoes, carrots and swedes. Sheep farming still occurs, but is far less important than it once was. Tourism on the other hand has increased.There is little peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
on the Out Skerries, so the residents have been granted rights to cut it on Whalsay
Whalsay
-Geography:Whalsay, also known as "The Bonnie Isle", is a peat-covered island in the Shetland Islands. It is situated east of the Shetland Mainland and has an area of . The main settlement is Symbister, where the fishing fleet is based. The fleet is composed of both pelagic and demersal vessels...
.
The Skerries Bridge, which links Bruray to Housay was built in 1957, replacing the first bridge built in 1899.
There is around a mile of road, along which most of the population lives.
There is a ferry to the islands from Vidlin
Vidlin
Vidlin , is a small village located in the Shetland Islands of Scotland.It is at the head of Vidlin Voe, is the modern heart of the old parish of Lunnasting, which centred on the early church at Lunna on Lunna Ness....
and Lerwick
Lerwick
Lerwick is the capital and main port of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, located more than 100 miles off the north coast of mainland Scotland on the east coast of the Shetland Mainland...
.