Yell ( ) is one of the North Isles of Shetland, Scotland. In the 2011 census it had a resident population of 966. It is the second largest island in Shetland after the Mainland with an area of ,Penrith, James & Deborah (2007) Orkney & Shetland (part of The Scottish Islands series). Richmond. Crimson Publishing. and is the third most populous in the archipelago (fifteenth out of the islands in Scotland), after the Mainland and Whalsay.
The island's bedrock is largely composed of Moine schist with a north–south grain, which was uplifted during the Caledonian mountain building period. Peat covers two-thirds of the island to an average depth of .
Yell has been inhabited since the Neolithic times, and a dozen broch sites have been identified from the pre-Norse period. Norse rule lasted from the 9th to 14th centuries until Scottish control was asserted. The modern economy of the island is based on crofting, fishing, transport and tourism. The island claims to be the "Otter Capital of Britain" and has a diverse bird life including breeding populations of great and Arctic skuas.Gooders, J. (1994) Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Ireland. London. Kingfisher. Pages 147–9 At times, whales and dolphins also appear off the coast.
Notable buildings on the island include the 17th-century Old Haa of Brough in Burravoe, a merchant's house now converted to a museum and visitor centre. There are various folk tales and modern literary references to island life.
Geography Yell is in length, with a maximum breadth of , and is swept all around by very impetuous tides. The island extends northward to within of the northwestern extremity of Unst. It is divided by only the narrow Bluemull Sound from the south west of Unst.Wilson, Rev. John The Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1882) Published by W. & A.K. Johnstone On the eastern side the coast is generally low and sandy but there is an extensive rocky and partly precipitous coast on the west that rises slowly to elevations of . It is indented by seven or eight bays forming natural harbours. As Penrith's guide to Orkney and Shetland states:
"The island is roughly rectangular and nearly cut in two where the long voes of Whale Firth and Mid Yell almost meet."
In addition to these large indentations, there are a number of tombolos connecting peninsulas to the island. Many of these are very fragile, and can be damaged extremely easily by human erosion, or severe storms, creating new islands - or resurrecting old ones.
There is comparatively little farmland, but the coast is conducive to fishing. Much of the interior of Yell is covered in a peat blanket, often as much as thick, which is the result of 3,000 years of deposits. The peat retains a great deal of water, but is easily eroded, particularly when it comes near to the coast. As Jill Slee Blackadder writes:
"Some streams carve deep sided gorges. Among these habitats, you can find a wealth of wild flowers and birds nest here in peace."
The island was anciently divided into the parishes of North Yell, Mid Yell, and South Yell. More recently the parish of North Yell was merged with that of Fetlar, and Mid Yell and South Yell were amalgamated. In 1991, North Yell was merged with Mid and South Yell to the new civil parish of Yell, leaving Fetlar a parish of its own. The island is still divided into the ecclesiastical parish Mid Yell and the quoad sacra parishes North Yell and South Yell.
As with the Shetland archipelago as a whole, the island can be seen as creating a barrier between the northern end of the North Sea (to the east) and the North Atlantic (to the west). To the north east is the Norwegian Sea, and the Arctic Ocean is several hundred km to the north.
Attractions on the island include the Sands of Breckon composed of crushed shells, and the Daal of Lumbister gorge.
Settlements Settlements on Yell tend to be coastal and include Burravoe, home to the Old Haa Museum, Mid Yell, Cullivoe and Gloup, as well as Ulsta, Gutcher, Aywick, West Yell, Sellafirth, Copister, Camb, Otterswick, and West Sandwick.
There is little in the way of modern settlements on the west coast other than West Sandwick, mainly because of the prevailing wind and the high cliffs that border much of it. There are a few crofts along Whale Firth, including Windhouse (see notable buildings), and at Grimister there are the ruins of an old herring curing station, which closed after the Second World War.
Surrounding islands
The following islands surround Yell: Aastack, Bigga, Black Skerry, Brother Isle, Brough, Burravoe Chest, Fish Holm, Gloup Holm, Gold Skerry, Green Holm, Grey Stack, Hascosay, Holm of West Sandwick, Kay Holm, Linga, Muckle Holm, Neapback Skerries, Orfasay, Stacks of Stuis, Sweinna Stack, The Clapper, The Quidin, Whalegeo Stacks, Whilkie Stack, and Ern Stack.
Geology and soils
Yell lies to the east of the Walls boundary fault, which is probably a northern extension of the Great Glen fault. There are three main faults that dictate the geography of Yell - the first is the Bluemull Fault, which separates Yell from Unst by creating the Bluemull Sound; the second is the Arisdale Fault which forms the northern part of Whale Firth, and extends south to Arisdale, and out of Hamnavoe; and the third is the Nesting Fault, which more or less creates Yell Sound, and divides Yell from Mainland Shetland. A fourth fault helps create Gloup Voe, and there are some other minor ones. These faults may be seen as radiating branches of the Walls Fault, and were exacerbated by glacial activity.
The island's bedrock is largely composed of Moine schistBlackadder, Jill Slee Shetland (Colin Baxter Island Guides) (2003) Colin Baxter Photography, Strathspey with a north–south grain, a metamorphosed sedimentary rock originally laid down in shallow water 1,000-800 million years ago and then uplifted and deformed during the Caledonian orogeny 600–400 million years ago. The principal minerals are coarse quartzite, quartz-feldspar gneiss and mica schist.
In common with the rest of Shetland, Yell was covered in thick ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages. Some of the island's gorges, such as the Daal of Lumbister, may have originally been created by ancient meltwater streams escaping from underneath retreating glaciers, and it is also thought some of Yell's lochs were originally dammed by moraines.
After the ice melted the island would have experienced a large tsunami some 8,000 years BP associated with the Storegga Slides."The Storegga Submarine Slides" . Fettes.com. Retrieved 5 February 2005. The inundation would have reached above normal high tides. There is also some evidence at Basta Voe in the north west of a more recent event of a similar nature.Smith, David "Tsunami hazards" . Fettes.com. Retrieved 5 February 2005. In modern times, the non-porous nature of the bedrock, the presence of boulder clay and the cool and damp climate have conspired to create large expanses of peat. This covers two-thirds of the island with an average depth of . Its main constituent materials are sphagnum moss, cotton grass, deer grass, heather and sedge.Nicolson (1972) pp. 17 and 22.Gillen, Con (2003) Geology and landscapes of Scotland. Harpenden. Terra. Pages 75 and 91. This peat is highly important to the islanders as a fuel source, and in some areas is even worked commercially. It is cut with a tushker (a type of peat spade, akin to the Highland cascrom), and according to Blackadder (2003) "Yell boasts some of the best peat stacking skills in Shetland."
There is also some dune habitat near West Sandwick, something pretty rare in the Shetland Islands; controversially, there has been some commercial extraction of the sand from this area, which may have had a significant environmental impact.
History
Origin of name
There are various possible derivations of the island's name. The name Yell, recorded in the 1300s as Iala, may be of Brittonic origin, deriving from *iala, meaning "unfruitful land" (cf. Iâl, Wales; also Yale). Neighbouring Unst may also have a pre-Norse name. The name was also recorded in 1586 as "Yella". In early modern times, it was written as "Zell" (cf "Zetland"), a mistranscription of "Ȝell", from an initial yogh.
Early history
Yell has been inhabited since the Neolithic times. A petrosomatoglyph or stone footprint at North Yell, up Hena, is known locally as the 'Wartie' and was used to wash in dew or rain-water; standing in it was supposed to get rid of warts. In legend it was made by a giant placing one foot here and the other on the Westing of Unst.
Twelve broch sites and fifteen early chapels are known.Keay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland. London. HarperCollins. Page 991. The evidence suggests a substantial population in the Pre-Norse period. One of the brochs is Burra Ness Broch. Only part of the wall remains, on the seaward side. This reaches around high in places. There are traces of earthen ramparts on the landward side, and remains of a structure which may have been a guard's cell. There are also remains of an Iron Age blockhouse fort at Burgi Geos. Burravoe's name derives partly from a nearby broch: the element "Burra" frequently being a corruption of the Norse for that.
Yell's placenames reveal the presence of the Celtic Church, whose hermits were known to the Norse as papar. Examples of names related to them include Papil Ness, Loch of Papil and Papil Bay. However, it is unclear whether these names are all pre-Norse, or whether these Christians co-existed with the pagan Norsemen after they invaded. There is evidence of an early Culdee monastery at the Birrier in the west of Yell, near West Sandwick. The Birrier was almost certainly in contact with another monastic settlement directly opposite, across Yell Sound, at the Kame of Isbister on the Northmavine Peninsula of Mainland. A service was held in 2000 at the Birrier to commemorate two millennia of Christianity.
A cross slab from North Yell may also be from this period, but it has been lost. It is presumed to be like the Bressay Stone.
Norse era Yell Sound is mentioned in the Orkneyinga saga: "Earl Rögnvald... and the chiefs Sölmond and Jón with him... had a fine body of troops, though not too numerous, and five or six ships. They arrived at Hjaltland [Shetland] about the middle of summer, but heard nothing of Frákork. Strong and contrary winds sprung up, and they brought their ships to Alasund (Yell Sound), and went a-feasting over the country."
In the later Norse period Christianity flourished and foundations of 20 chapels dating from this period have been identified.Nicolson (1972) p. 43.
The primary Norse legacy is an array of placenames of potentially fully or sometimes partial Old Norse origin. For example, "Dalsetter" is a combination of dalr meaning a "dale" or "valley", either from Old Norse or Old English, possibly influenced by both; and setr meaning a "hill pasture" or shieling, or as a (potentially Norse) interpretation of Old English ("sǣte"). "Gossawater" is a combination of either Old English "gōs" and/or Old Norse "gás" (goose), á (river) and vatn (a lake/loch) anglicised as "water".What's in a Name? | ChooseShetland.com
Other potentially Norse elements on Yell include "firth" which is from either or possibly both the Old English ""Ford"" and Old Norse "fjörðr" as in Whale Firth, "voe" which is an Old Norse cognate with English 'way' (Old English 'weġ')(Old Norse vagr) as in "Gloup Voe", "sound" (Both Old English and Old Norse use sund) as in "Bluemull Sound" and "-a(y)" (ey) as in nearby Hascosay and Linga.
Hanseatic trade and early modern period
Although most of Shetland's Hanseatic trade was conducted from Scalloway, Burravoe was one of the most important of the other Hanseatic centres in the archipelago.