Burra ( Old Norse: ''Barrey'' ) is the collective name for two of the

Shetland Islands Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

, West (pop. 753) and

East Burra East Burra ( sco, East Burra; Old Norse: "Barrey"Anderson, Joseph (Ed.) (1893) ''Orkneyinga Saga''. Translated by Jón A. Hjaltalin & Gilbert Goudie. Edinburgh. James Thin and Mercat Press (1990 reprint). ) is one of the Scalloway Islands, a s ...

(pop. 66), which are connected by bridge to one another, and to the

Shetland Mainland The Mainland is the main island of Shetland, Scotland. The island contains Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick, and is the centre of Shetland's ferry and air connections. Geography It has an area of , making it the third-largest Scottish island ...

via

Trondra Trondra ( sco, Trondra) is one of the Scalloway Islands, a subgroup of the Shetland Islands in Scotland. It shelters the harbour of Scalloway and has an area of . History Trondra was becoming rapidly depopulated until 1970, when road bridges were ...

. In addition, Burra was an ancient Civil parish that included smaller additional islands such as

South Havra South Havra ( sco, Sooth Haevra; non, Hafrey), formerly Hevera, is an uninhabited island in the Scalloway Islands, Shetland, Scotland. Geography and geology South Havra lies south of Burra and west of the southern peninsula of the Mainland. ...

Little Havra Little Havra is a small island off the west of South Mainland in Shetland. It is at its highest point, upon which there is a cairn. It is located west of South Havra South Havra ( sco, Sooth Haevra; non, Hafrey), formerly Hevera, is an uninha ...

, Papa and the tidal island

West Head of Papa West Head of Papa is a small tidal island off Papa in Shetland, and is one of the Scalloway Islands The Scalloway Islands are in Shetland opposite Scalloway on south west of the Mainland. They form a mini-archipelago and include: * Burra ( ...

. The civil parish of Burra was merged into the civil parish of Lerwick, along with

Quarff Quarff is a small village on Mainland in the Shetland Islands in Scotland. It is located on the main A970 road, south of Shetland's only town, Lerwick. The village is spread along a classic glacial valley that runs east–west across the island ...

and

Gulberwick Gulberwick is a village on Mainland, southwest of Lerwick, Shetland, Scotland, which contains approximately 200 houses. In recent years the number of houses in the area has increased due to its nearness to Shetland's capital and biggest town, Le ...

, in 1891. It continues to exist as

Quoad sacra parish A ''quoad sacra'' parish is a parish of the Church of Scotland which does not represent a civil parish. That is, it had ecclesiastical functions but no local government functions. Since the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929, civil parishes have h ...

of the Church of Scotland. ''Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland'' suggests that the name is a corruption of "Borgarey" (island of the

broch A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Their origin is a matter of some controversy. Origin ...

),Keay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland''. London. HarperCollins. and while this is unlikely, and no broch is extant, the place name Brough, on

West Burra West Burra is one of the Scalloway Islands, a subgroup of the Shetland Islands in Scotland. It is connected by bridge to East Burra. With an area of , it is the eleventh-largest of the Shetland Islands. Geography The nearby south-facing san ...

lends some support to this case. However, the form used in the '' Orkneyinga saga'' is "Barrey".

References

Islands of Shetland Scalloway Islands {{Shetland-geo-stub