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Unst (; sco, Unst; nrn, Ønst) is one of the North Isles 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 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 ...
. It is the northernmost of the inhabited
British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isl ...
and is the third-largest island in Shetland after Mainland and
Yell A yell is a loud vocalization; see screaming. Yell may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Yell, Shetland, one of the North Isles of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland * Yell Sound, Shetland, Scotland United States * Yell, Tennessee, an un ...
. It has an area of . Unst is largely
grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...
, with coastal cliffs. Its main village is
Baltasound Baltasound (or Baltasund) is the largest settlement on the island of Unst in Shetland, Scotland. It comes from the Old Norse man's name Balti (Baltisund). Unst is the most northerly inhabited island in the United Kingdom. The village lies halfwa ...
, formerly the second-largest
herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Ocean ...
fishing port after Lerwick and now the location of a leisure centre and the island's airport. Other settlements include Uyeasound, home to Greenwell's Booth (a Hanseatic warehouse) and Muness Castle (built in 1598 and sacked by pirates in 1627); and Haroldswick, location of a boat museum and a heritage centre.


Etymology

There are three island names 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 ...
of unknown and possibly pre-Celtic origin: Unst,
Fetlar Fetlar ( sco, Fetlar) is one of the North Isles of Shetland, Scotland, with a usually resident population of 61 at the time of the 2011 census. Its main settlement is Houbie on the south coast, home to the Fetlar Interpretive Centre. Fetlar i ...
and
Yell A yell is a loud vocalization; see screaming. Yell may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Yell, Shetland, one of the North Isles of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland * Yell Sound, Shetland, Scotland United States * Yell, Tennessee, an un ...
. The earliest recorded forms of these three names do carry Norse meanings: ''Fetlar'' is the plural of ''fetill'' and means "shoulder-straps", ''Ǫmstr'' is "corn-stack" and ''í Ála'' is from ''ál'' meaning "deep furrow". However, these descriptions are hardly obvious ones as island names and are probably adaptations of a pre-Norse language.Gammeltoft (2010) pp. 19–20 This may have been
Pictish Pictish is the extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geographica ...
but there is no clear evidence for this.Gammeltoft (2010) p. 9 Taylor (1898) has suggested a derivation from the
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 ...
"Ornyst" meaning "eagle's nest".Taylor (1898)


History

The Shetland Amenity Trust's "Viking Unst" project excavated and displayed part of the island's Norse heritage. Work was undertaken on three
longhouses A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from timber and often re ...
– of which 60 are known of on the island – at Hamar, Underhoull and Belmont. The replica Viking ship ''Skibladner'' can currently be seen ashore at Haroldswick. The remains of pre-12th-century Christian chapels survive on Unst: St Olaf's Chapel, Lund, and Our Lady's Kirk at Framgord, Sandwick on the south east coast. Norse-style cross-shaped gravestones stand in the surrounding burial grounds at both Lund and Framgord, and rare "keelstone" burial markers survive at Framgord. Late Norse longhouses have been identified around both bays; the house at Sandwick still retains its cow-shaped byre door.
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell James Hepburn, 1st Duke of Orkney and 4th Earl of Bothwell ( – 14 April 1578), better known simply as Lord Bothwell, was a prominent Scottish nobleman. He was known for his marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots, as her third and final husband ...
sailed to Shetland after the
Battle of Carberry Hill The Battle of Carberry Hill took place on 15 June 1567, near Musselburgh, East Lothian, a few miles east of Edinburgh, Scotland. A number of Scottish lords objected to the rule of Mary, Queen of Scots, after she had married the Earl of Bothwell, ...
. He was at the house of Oliver Sinclair, the receiver or
sheriff of Shetland A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transl ...
on Unst, in July 1567 when his enemies arrived in three ships, and he fought a sea battle for three hours before sailing to Norway. A later sheriff, Laurence Bruce, built Muness Castle in 1598. The Rev Dr James Ingram (1776–1879) was minister of Unst from 1821. In the
Disruption of 1843 The Disruption of 1843, also known as the Great Disruption, was a schism in 1843 in which 450 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. The main conflict was over whether the Church of S ...
, he and most of the Unst population, left the established church and joined the Free Church of Scotland (a very typical pattern in the Highlands and Islands). He erected a new church at Uyeasound, funded by the Countess of Effingham. Ingram retired in 1875 aged 99 and died aged a remarkable 103. His father and grandfather also lived to over 100.
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
's father and uncle were the main design engineers for the lighthouse on Muckle Flugga, just off Hermaness on the north-west of the island. Stevenson visited Unst, and the island is claimed to have become the basis for the map of the fictional ''
Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...
'' – a claim shared by Fidra in
East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the his ...
. In the 1950s, a Canadian sociologist,
Erving Goffman Erving Goffman (11 June 1922 – 19 November 1982) was a Canadian-born sociologist, social psychologist, and writer, considered by some "the most influential American sociologist of the twentieth century". In 2007 '' The Times Higher Ed ...
, undertook a year of ethnographic research on Unst for his doctoral thesis, which underpinned his best known publication, '' The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life'' (1956) and the
dramaturgy Dramaturgy is the study of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. The term first appears in the eponymous work ''Hamburg Dramaturgy'' (1767–69) by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Lessing composed th ...
approach he developed. On 7 January 2007, Unst was rocked by an
earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...
measuring 4.9 on the
Richter scale The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...
, which is believed to have been one of the most powerful earthquakes in the Norwegian Sea area in the past 10 years.


Geography and geology

The island lays claim to many "most northerly" UK titles: the tiny settlement of Skaw in the north-east of the island is the northernmost settlement in the UK; Haroldswick is the site of Britain's most northerly church; the Muckle Flugga
lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses m ...
, just off the far north of Unst, was opened in 1858 and is the most northerly lighthouse in the UK, situated close to Out Stack, the most northerly rock in the UK.
Western Norway Western Norway ( nb, Vestlandet, Vest-Norge; nn, Vest-Noreg) is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrativ ...
is 300 km away. The islands of Unst and Fetlar are mainly formed of
ultramafic Ultramafic rocks (also referred to as ultrabasic rocks, although the terms are not wholly equivalent) are igneous and meta-igneous rocks with a very low silica content (less than 45%), generally >18% MgO, high FeO, low potassium, and are composed ...
and
mafic A mafic mineral or rock is a silicate mineral or igneous rock rich in magnesium and iron. Most mafic minerals are dark in color, and common rock-forming mafic minerals include olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite. Common mafic rocks in ...
igneous rocks Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...
which are interpreted to form part of an
ophiolite An ophiolite is a section of Earth's oceanic crust and the underlying upper mantle that has been uplifted and exposed above sea level and often emplaced onto continental crustal rocks. The Greek word ὄφις, ''ophis'' (''snake'') is found ...
, a section of
oceanic crust Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troctolite, gabbro and ultramafic ...
from the
Iapetus ocean The Iapetus Ocean (; ) was an ocean that existed in the late Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic eras of the geologic timescale (between 600 and 400 million years ago). The Iapetus Ocean was situated in the southern hemisphere, between the paleo ...
which was destroyed during the Caledonian orogeny. Unst was once the location of several
chromite Chromite is a crystalline mineral composed primarily of iron(II) oxide and chromium(III) oxide compounds. It can be represented by the chemical formula of FeCr2O4. It is an oxide mineral belonging to the spinel group. The element magnesium can ...
quarries, one of which was served by the now-disused Hagdale Chromate Railway from 1907 to 1937. Unst is the type locality for the mineral
theophrastite Nickel(II) hydroxide is the inorganic compound with the formula Ni(OH)2. It is an apple-green solid that dissolves with decomposition in ammonia and amines and is attacked by acids. It is electroactive, being converted to the Ni(III) oxy-hydroxi ...
, a nickel-magnesium variant of the mineral, , having been discovered at Hagdale in 1960.


Economy and transport

Ferries link Belmont on the island to Gutcher on
Yell A yell is a loud vocalization; see screaming. Yell may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Yell, Shetland, one of the North Isles of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland * Yell Sound, Shetland, Scotland United States * Yell, Tennessee, an un ...
and Oddsta on
Fetlar Fetlar ( sco, Fetlar) is one of the North Isles of Shetland, Scotland, with a usually resident population of 61 at the time of the 2011 census. Its main settlement is Houbie on the south coast, home to the Fetlar Interpretive Centre. Fetlar i ...
. The Unst Bus Shelter, also known as Bobby's Bus Shelter after a child who saved it from removal, is a
bus shelter A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for ch ...
and
bus stop A bus stop is a place where buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelters, seating, and possibly electronic passenger ...
near the village of
Baltasound Baltasound (or Baltasund) is the largest settlement on the island of Unst in Shetland, Scotland. It comes from the Old Norse man's name Balti (Baltisund). Unst is the most northerly inhabited island in the United Kingdom. The village lies halfwa ...
which is equipped with home comforts such as a television set, and is maintained by local residents. Unst is also home to the Promoting Unst Renewable Energy (PURE) Wind Hydrogen project, a community-owned clean energy system based on
hydrogen production Hydrogen production is the family of industrial methods for generating hydrogen gas. As of 2020, the majority of hydrogen (∼95%) is produced from fossil fuels by steam reforming of natural gas and other light hydrocarbons, partial oxidation of ...
. This project is part of the Unst Partnership, the community's
development trust Development trusts are organisations operating in the United Kingdom that are: *community based, owned and led *engaged in the economic, environmental and social regeneration of a defined area or community *independent but seek to work in partners ...
. The Pure Energy Centre was formed using the skills and knowledge gained during the PURE Project and has installed hydrogen systems in diverse locations. At the southern end of Unst, above the island's ferry terminal, stands Belmont House. Dating from 1775, Belmont has been described as "possibly the most ambitious, least-altered classical mansion in the Northern Isles". It was restored between 1996 and 2010 by a charitable trust, who now operate the building as a venue for hire. The island's population was 632 as recorded by the 2011 census, a drop of over 12% since 2001 when there were 720 usual residents. During the same period
Scottish island This is a list of islands of Scotland, the mainland of which is part of the island of Great Britain. Also included are various other related tables and lists. The definition of an offshore island used in this list is "land that is surrounded by ...
populations as a whole grew by 4% to 103,702. In 2016, the island was the subject of Series 11 of
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...
's ''
An Island Parish ''An Island Parish'' is a British television documentary made by Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC Two. Series 1 and 2 covered the lives of residents of the Church of England parish of the Isles of Scilly. These series were supported by the Dioc ...
''. The island has an airstrip, the Unst Airport, which has been decommissioned as an airport, has no regular flights and is only used for emergency flights.


Saxa Vord

The
Saxa Vord Remote Radar Head Saxa Vord or RRH Saxa Vord (aka RAF Saxa Vord), is a Royal Air Force radar station located on the island of Unst, the most northern of the Shetland Islands in Scotland. As of July 2019 it is once more a fully operational ra ...
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
radar station closed in 2006, with the loss of more than 100 jobs. In April 2007, RAF Saxa Vord's domestic site, plus the road up to the Mid Site, was purchased and renamed "Saxa Vord Resort" by Highland entrepreneur Frank Strang. Strang's company Military Asset Management (MAM) "specialises in the regeneration of redundant or surplus Defence Assets". The base was converted to a tourist resort and natural and cultural heritage centre. In 2013, Saxa Vord had self-catering holiday houses, a 26-bedroom bunkhouse, restaurant and bar, leisure facilities and a guided walks/evening talks programme. Three local business relocated their premises to the Saxa Vord site: Unst Cycle Hire, Valhalla Brewery and Foord's Chocolates, Shetland's only chocolatier. Saxa Vord distillery, a gin and whisky distillery is located on Unst. In 2017, Frank Strang established the Shetland Space Centre Ltd and proposed that Lamba Ness would make a suitable launch site for rockets taking satellites into polar orbits. In October 2020, the proposal was given more substance by the announcement that the UK Space Agency had given its approval and that
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
was intending to use the site as a UK base for its rocket launches. In January 2021, plans were submitted for three rocket launch pads.


Wildlife

Unst is important for its seabird colonies, including those at Hermaness National Nature Reserve. It is also known for its plant life, including the Norwegian sandwort and Shetland Mouse-ear, the latter unique to the island. On the island, the commonly seen
Great skua The great skua (''Stercorarius skua''), sometimes known by the name bonxie in Britain, is a large seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. It is roughly the size of a herring gull. It mainly eats fish caught at the sea surface or taken fr ...
is known as the "bonxie".


Notable people

* Walter Sutherland (died c. 1850), a former inhabitant of the northernmost cottage in Britain, was reportedly the last native speaker of the
Norn language Norn is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the Northern Isles ( Orkney and Shetland) off the north coast of mainland Scotland and in Caithness in the far north of the Scottish mainland. After Orkney and Shetland were pledge ...
. * Thomas Barclay, born on Unst in 1792 was a Principal of the University of Glasgow. *
Laurence Edmondston Dr. Laurence Edmondston (9 February 1795 – 7 March 1879) was a British-born naturalist and doctor who lived in Shetland, Scotland, United Kingdom. Laurence Edmondston was born in Lerwick, the capital of Shetland, in 1795. His mother was Mary ...
, born in Shetland in 1795, was a medical doctor and GP for Unst. * John Gray (1819–1872), born on Unst, Captain of the SS ''Great Britain'' * Thomas Edmondston, born on Unst in 1825, was a botanist. * James Ingram (1776–1879), Presbyterian minister who spent most of his life working in the parishes of Fetlar and Unst. Ingram wrote the ''New Statistical Account'' of the parish of Unst in 1831; his father-in-law and Thomas Mouat of Garth wrote the ''Old Statistical Account'' in 1791. *
May Moar May Moar or Marjory Moar born May Hectorson (1825  – 2 June 1894) was a British crofter in the Shetland Isles who was awarded an RNLI silver medal for rescuing fishermen off the island of Yell. Life Moar was born in Unst in 1825. She was ...
was born here in 1825 and gained an
RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...
medal. *
Jessie Saxby Jessie Margaret Edmondston Saxby (30 June 1842 – 27 December 1940) was an author and folklorist from Unst, one of the Shetland Islands of Scotland. She also had political interests and was a suffragette. Family Born on 30 June 1842 at ...
, born on Unst in 1842, was a folklorist and writer. *
Sinclair Ferguson Sinclair Buchanan Ferguson (born 21 February 1948) is a Scottish theologian known in Reformed Christian circles for his teaching, writing, and editorial work. He has been Chancellor's Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Sem ...
(born 1948), theologian and preacher, was
Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...
minister on Unst.


See also

*
List of islands of Scotland This is a list of islands of Scotland, the mainland of which is part of the island of Great Britain. Also included are various other related tables and lists. The definition of an offshore island used in this list is "land that is surrounded by ...
*
Society of Our Lady of the Isles The Society of Our Lady of the Isles (SOLI) is a small Anglican religious order for women, founded in the late 20th century. It is located in Shetland, and is part of the Scottish Episcopal Church. It is arguably the most remote community (by ...


Footnotes


References

*Anderson, Joseph (ed.) (1893) '' Orkneyinga Saga'' Translated by Jón A. Hjaltalin & Gilbert Goudie Edinburgh: James Thin and Mercat Press (1990 reprint) *Gammeltoft, Peder (2010)
Shetland and Orkney Island-Names – A Dynamic Group
''Northern Lights, Northern Words'' Selected Papers from the FRLSU Conference, Kirkwall 2009, edited by Robert McColl Millar * *''Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney'' Trans. Hermann Pálsson and Edwards, Paul (1978) London: Hogarth Press Republished 1981, Harmondsworth: Penguin *Sandison, Charles – ''Unst: My Island Home and its Story'' Shetland Times 1968 epr. 1975*


External links

* * *
Recordings of Unst Scots
{{Authority control Islands of Shetland National Trust for Scotland properties PURE Geological type localities of Scotland Norn language Parishes of Shetland