Muckle Roe is an island in

Shetland 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 n ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, in St. Magnus Bay, to the west of

Mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or de ...

. It has a population of around 130 people, who mainly croft and live in the south east of the island.Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 440 'Muckle' is Scots for 'big' or 'great'.

History

The island is referred to in the '' Orkneyinga saga''. In 1905 a bridge was built between Muckle Roe and the Shetland Mainland over Roe Sound at a cost of £1,020 met from public subscription and a grant from the Congested Districts Board. The construction was of iron and concrete and its completion was followed by a reversal in the population decline seen in the 19th and earlier 20th centuries. The bridge was later widened and strengthened, and opened on 22 October 1947 by the Convener of Zetland, W. Thomson Esq. Construction of a replacement bridge commenced in May 1998, the work being completed in January 1999. It was opened officially by Councillor Drew Ratter on 3 April 1999. Muckle Roe was part of the civil parish of

Delting Delting is a civil parish and community council area on Mainland, Shetland, Scotland. It includes the Sullom Voe oil terminal and its main settlements are Brae, Mossbank and Voe. The parish, as described in 1882–1884, included the islands ...

until the abolition of civil parishes in Scotland by the

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 (19 & 20 Geo 5 c. 25) reorganised local government in Scotland from 1930, introducing joint county councils, large and small burghs and district councils. The Act also abolished the Scottish poor law sy ...

Geography and geology

Muckle Roe is approximately in diameter, with high cliffs in the south. Its highest point is Mid Ward . The island's rock is red

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies underg ...

, which gives the island its name – a combination of Scots and

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

meaning "big red island". There are crofts in the east and south east. The rest of the island is

lochan ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch. In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spellin ...

-studded

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generall ...

Population

Notable residents

Gilbert Williamson Wood (2 September 1828 – 24 September 1886), a merchant seaman, was born at Little Ayre and emigrated to Adelaide, Australia in 1853. He founded G. Wood, Son & Co. along with his eldest son Peter in 1876. The company produced goods under a number of brand names, including Anchor, Snowflake, Viking, and Medallion. He donated sums of money back to Muckle Roe, including funds towards the building of the first bridge to mainland Shetland, and the Muckle Roe Church of Scotland, which was completed in 1911. The remaining funds were used to purchase books and school bags for every child attending the local school. Some profits from the sale of Anchor butter went towards paraffin lamps for the chapel.

Gallery

File:Roesound IMG 3968 (20654476344).jpg, Roesound File:Bridge over Roe Sound to Muckle Roe Island - geograph.org.uk - 335197.jpg, Former Muckle Roe Bridge File:Bridge to Muckle Roe, Shetland - geograph.org.uk - 144993.jpg, Modern Muckle Roe Bridge File:Muckle Roe Lighthouse - geograph.org.uk - 629940.jpg, Muckle Roe Lighthouse looking west File:No Visitors ! IMG 5787 (23639939921).jpg, The former Muckle Roe Lighthouse, which now sits at the foot of Sumburgh Head File:Town Loch and Sandhill Ruin - geograph.org.uk - 910929.jpg, The North Ham and the Town Loch File:Church of Scotland, Muckle Roe - geograph.org.uk - 535057.jpg, Muckle Roe Chapel File:Murbie Stacks, Muckle Roe - geograph.org.uk - 886923.jpg, Murbie Stacks File:Stack and Gilsa Ayre, Muckle Roe - geograph.org.uk - 886947.jpg, Birkie Ayre

Notes

References

* * Keay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland''. London. HarperCollins. * Nicolson, James R. (1972) ''Shetland''. Newton Abbott. David & Charles. * Waugh, Doreen "Placing Papa Stour in Context" in Ballin Smith, Beverley; Taylor, Simon; and Williams, Gareth (2007) ''West over Sea: Studies in Scandinavian Sea-Borne Expansion and Settlement Before 1300''. Leiden. Brill.

External links

scottishislands.org.uk

''Shetland in Statistics 2006'' from shetland.gov.uk

Northern Lighthouse Board
{{Lighthouse identifiers , qid2=Q28465950 Islands of Shetland