:''"Brae" is also the Lowland Scots language word for the slope or brow of a

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not as ...

.'' Brae (

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

: ''Breiðeið'', meaning "the wide isthmus") is a village on the island 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 dem ...

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 ...

, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Description

Brae was historically a fishing village, but with the construction of the nearby

Sullom Voe Oil Terminal The Sullom Voe Terminal is an oil and gas terminal at Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands of Scotland. It handles production from oilfields in the North Sea and East Shetland Basin and stores oil before it is transported by tanker. Construct ...

in the 1970s it grew rapidly, merging with the nearby village of Northbrae. It is located at the northern end of

Busta Voe Busta Voe, (HU665350), in the north central Mainland, Shetland, is a sea inlet lying between the village of Brae and the island of Muckle Roe. At the head of the voe is the Delting Marina and Boating Club. During the First World War Busta Voe wa ...

, on the narrow

isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthm ...

that joins

Northmavine Northmavine or Northmaven ( non, Norðan Mæfeið, meaning ‘the land north of the Mavis Grind’) is a peninsula in northwest Mainland Shetland in Scotland. The peninsula has historically formed the civil parish Northmavine. The modern Northmav ...

to the rest of the Mainland. The village stages its own

Up Helly Aa Up Helly Aa ( ; literally "Up Holy ">ay/nowiki> All") is a type of fire festival held annually from January to March in various communities in Shetland, Scotland, to mark the end of the Yule season. Each festival involves a torchlit processio ...

. The A970 which connects

Lerwick Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland a ...

to Northmavine forms the main street of Brae. Brae's police and fire stations, schools, and NHS clinic service much of the northern part of the Mainland.

Etymology

''Brae'' is the Lowland Scots word for the slope or brow of a hill. The word 'Brae' in Shetland dialect has a different meaning; it may come from the Old Norse word ''breiðr'' meaning broad. The village may take its name from the broad isthmus between Sullom Voe and Busta Voe as opposed to the narrower one a little further west at

Mavis Grind Mavis Grind ( non, Mæfeiðs grind or ', meaning "gate of the narrow isthmus") is a narrow isthmus joining the Northmavine peninsula to the rest of the island of Shetland Mainland in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is said to be the only plac ...

. Alternatively the name may mean "a slope to the sea".

Notable people

Jonathan Sutherland, television and radio broadcaster and main anchor of

Sportscene ''Sportscene'' is the name of a range of Scottish sports television programmes produced by BBC Scotland. History ''Sportscenes predecessors were ''Sports Special from Scotland'' and ''Sportsreel'', which was broadcast every Saturday at around 5 ...

, is from Brae.

Erraid Davies Erraid Davies (born 9 February 2001 in Dundee, Scotland) is a Scottish swimmer from Skeld in Shetland. In 2014 at the age of 13 she became the youngest person to compete for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games and achieved a bronze medal in t ...

is a member of the

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 of ...

Dolphins swimming club based in Brae, which claims to be "the most northerly active swimming club in the UK".

References

External links

Scotland - BraeCanmore - Brae Whaling Station and Jetty site recordCanmore - Busta Standing Stone site record
Villages in Mainland, Shetland Portages {{Shetland-geo-stub