30-630: The Out Skerries are an archipelago of islets , some inhabited, in Shetland , Scotland, and are the easternmost part of Shetland. Locally, they are usually called Da Skerries or just Skerries . The Out Skerries lie about 6 kilometres (4 mi) northeast of Whalsay ; and Bound Skerry forms the easternmost part of Shetland , lying just 300 km (around 190 miles) west from Tjeldstø in Norway. The main islands are Housay , Bruray and Grunay . A large number of skerries , islets and stacks surround
60-550: A (mothballed) primary school. The primary school in 2015 had just one pupil. The previously open secondary school was the smallest in the UK; in 2010 the school had only three students. This secondary school was closed in 2014 by the approval of the Scottish government. In 2016 the school only had one student. The story went viral and he received 10,000 Christmas cards that year from all around the world. The old schoolhouse found reuse as
90-618: A lot of sea ( haaf ) fishing was conducted from traditional fishing boats known as sixareens . 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 gun , although initially no-one knew how to use it. German planes frequently flew over at low altitudes, strafing
120-480: A right angle. Haaf net fishing is practised by the fishermen wading out into the sea. In the Solway Firth, this can mean walking out over mudflats for up to one mile. Once in the sea, they position themselves and wait for the tide to ebb or flood . The depth of the water can be up to chest height. The technique involves the haaf net being submerged in the water, while the fisherman holds it upright with
150-694: A sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Archipelagos are sometimes defined by political boundaries. For example, while they are geopolitically divided, the San Juan Islands and Gulf Islands geologically form part of a larger Gulf Archipelago. The word archipelago is derived from the Ancient Greek ἄρχι-( arkhi- , "chief") and πέλαγος ( pélagos , "sea") through the Italian arcipelago . In antiquity , "Archipelago" (from Medieval Greek * ἀρχιπέλαγος and Latin archipelagus )
180-581: A thousand years. There are similarities with lave net fishing, practised in the Severn estuary , where the fishermen stand waste deep in the water with large Y-shaped nets. However, unlike lave netters, haaf net fishermen remain stationary in the water. In the 1970s, there were over 100 haaf net fishermen based in towns such as Annan or Gretna making a good living. From the 1980s, the economics of fishing with haaf nets meant that numbers have significantly reduced with only 30 individuals currently practising
210-573: 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 "house 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
240-480: Is little peat on the Out Skerries, so the residents have been granted rights to cut it on Whalsay . The soil in the islands is thin and infertile, but is heaped into riggs, for better cultivation of potatoes, carrots and swedes. The main industry on the islands is fishing. There is still some sheep farming, but it is far less important than it once was. Tourism on the other hand has increased. The islands have
270-548: 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 . There is evidence of Neolithic inhabitation including two house sites at Queyness. The Battle Pund is a rectangle 13 metres (43 ft) across, marked out by boulders, dating from the Bronze Age . It is similar to a structure at Hjaltadans in Fetlar , but its purpose
300-542: 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
330-859: The Viking Age . It is believed to have been brought to Scotland by the Vikings around 900 A.D. In the 1870s, one of the government's Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries, Spencer Walpole , reported that haaf net fishing was taking place in the estuaries of the Lune and Ribble in Lancashire , and in the Severn Estuary in South West England . Haaf net fishing is now unique to the Solway Firth , where it has been practised for over
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#1732765350923360-450: The estuary forming part of the border between England and Scotland . The technique involves fishermen standing chest-deep in the sea and using large submerged framed nets to scoop up fish that swim towards them. It is a form of fishing that is believed to have been brought to Britain by the Vikings more than a thousand years ago and to have been practised in the Solway Firth since then. The number of haaf net fishermen has dwindled over
390-492: 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. Dey (1991) states that the bomber was a "British" Blenheim bomber with a crew of two Canadians and one Englishman. The plaque ceremony
420-600: The folklore of the troll -like trows , and perhaps that of the selkie may be based in part on the Norse arrival of the Norse settlers. 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
450-523: The islanders for their houses. Some of the gold from these wrecks was found in 1960. The wrecks of the Kennemerland and the Danish warship Wrangles Palais (1687) lie within a Historic Marine Protected Area . 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 gangs . Until the early 20th century,
480-531: The last 50 years and the activity has been restricted by salmon conservation measures. The haaf net fishing community has campaigned for exemptions from these restrictions and for protection as an ancient cultural activity. Haaf net fishing is a type of salmon and sea trout fishing which is practised in South West Scotland and North West England . The word haaf is derived from the Old Norse for “open sea”. The technique has its origins in
510-568: The main Out Skerries and the Mainland , are Little Skerry and the Vongs, and Muckle Skerry is another outlier lying further north. Most of the Skerries placenames have a Norse origin. The "Out" name derives from one or both of two Old Norse words. Austr means "east" and may have been used to distinguish Out Skerries from Ve Skerries or "west skerries", and utsker means "outer". " Skerry "
540-565: The main Shetland Islands group. A third island, Grunay, is currently uninhabited. The two main islands are linked by a bridge. There are two shops, an airstrip, a church on Housay, a police station, a fish processing factory and a community hall where dances are held (especially for the celebration for the annual Lerwick to Skerries Yacht Race held in August). The islands are famous for wildlife, with frequent sightings of rare birds. There
570-789: 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 southwest tip of Housay are North and South Benelip and the Easter Skerries, as well as Filla, Short and Long Guen (the Guens), Bilia Skerry, and Swaba Stack. In an isolated group between
600-470: The new land owners." The skerry of Trollsholm and its cleft of Trolli Geo indicate the presence of this folklore on Out Skerries. 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 Kennemerland (1664) and De Liefde (1711); and North Wind (1906), which was carrying wood which was salvaged and used by
630-465: The result of erosion , deposition , and land elevation . Depending on their geological origin, islands forming archipelagos can be referred to as oceanic islands , continental fragments , or continental islands . Oceanic islands are mainly of volcanic origin, and widely separated from any adjacent continent. The Hawaiian Islands and Galapagos Islands in the Pacific , and Mascarene Islands in
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#1732765350923660-462: The rivers have low levels. Because the Firth is therefore classified as a “mixed stock fishery”, they cannot permit retention of any salmon caught. The net used has the appearance of a giant butterfly net . It is set in a rectangular wooden frame usually about 4–5 metres (13–16 ft) long and 2 metres (6.6 ft) wide supported by three legs. A central pole extends from one of the longer edges at
690-456: The second-smallest cinema in the UK (the smallest in Scotland), called Schoolhouse Cinema, which opened in 2017 and offers free admissions and free snacks. Archipelago An archipelago ( / ˌ ɑːr k ə ˈ p ɛ l ə ɡ oʊ / AR -kə- PEL -ə-goh ), sometimes called an island group or island chain , is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands , or sometimes
720-670: The shelf. The islands of the Inside Passage off the coast of British Columbia and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago are examples. Artificial archipelagos have been created in various countries for different purposes. Palm Islands and The World Islands off Dubai were or are being created for leisure and tourism purposes. Marker Wadden in the Netherlands is being built as a conservation area for birds and other wildlife. The largest archipelago in
750-432: The south Indian Ocean are examples. Continental fragments correspond to land masses that have separated from a continental mass due to tectonic displacement. The Farallon Islands off the coast of California are an example. Sets of islands formed close to the coast of a continent are considered continental archipelagos when they form part of the same continental shelf, when those islands are above-water extensions of
780-528: The survival of their traditions is threatened and is seeking exemptions from these requirements and official recognition that haaf netting should be protected as a culturally important and historic activity. In response, Marine Scotland , the Scottish Government agency responsible for fish conservation, has said that the issue is that the salmon stocks of the Firth of Solway feed into rivers with differing levels of salmon sustainability and some of
810-625: The technique. On the Scottish side of the Firth, since 2016, the Scottish Government has introduced salmon conservation measures resulting in haaf net fishermen being required to release alive any salmon they catch . The English side of the Firth is regulated by the Environment Agency which, after a consultation process, introduced similar restrictions in 2018. As a consequence, the Solway’s haaf net community believes
840-529: The world by number of islands is the Archipelago Sea , which is part of Finland . There are approximately 40,000 islands, mostly uninhabited. The largest archipelagic state in the world by area, and by population, is Indonesia . haaf Haaf net fishing is an ancient type of salmon and sea trout net fishing practised in Britain , and is particularly associated with the Solway Firth ,
870-437: Was attended by the family of F/Sgt Jay Oliver, one of the two Canadian casualties and Peter Johnson, a local man who had witnessed the crash aged eight years. 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. Around 35 people live on the two main islands, Housay and Bruray, just east of
900-595: Was the proper name for the Aegean Sea . Later, usage shifted to refer to the Aegean Islands (since the sea has a large number of islands). Archipelagos may be found isolated in large amounts of water or neighbouring a large land mass. For example, Scotland has more than 700 islands surrounding its mainland, which form an archipelago. Archipelagos are often volcanic, forming along island arcs generated by subduction zones or hotspots , but may also be
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