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Scotland |  |
Shetland Parishes |
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Information related to all of Shetland |
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Contents |
Description in 1887, and location
"SHETLAND, insular county of Scotland [map shows location], 50 miles NE. of Orkney, 352,876 ac., pop. 29,705; Mainland, pop. 20,821; it consists of about 100 islands, 29 of which are inhabited -Mainland, Yell, Unst, Fetlar, Whalsay, and Bressay being the largest. Mainland, comprising more than half the area of the whole group, extends N. and S. for 54 miles, and has an extreme breadth of 21 miles, but the coast-line is so irregular and deeply indented that no spot is 4 miles from the sea. The surface of Shetland is generally bleak and moorish, and rises to a maximum alt. of 1475 ft., but only in a few places higher than 500 ft. The rock scenery around the coasts is exceedingly grand and interesting. The climate is humid and comparatively mild, but severe storms are frequent. Large numbers of cattle and sheep of native breeds are reared, and the small Shetland ponies are remarkable for their strength and hardiness. Barley, oats, turnips, and potatoes are grown. The fisheries, especially the herring fishery, are of the greatest importance, and afford the chief employment. The knitting of woollen articles is also a great industry. Shetland comprises 12 pars., and the police burgh of Lerwick. It unites with Orkney in returning 1 member to Parl. [Bartholemew's Gazetteer of the British Isles, 1887]
| Aithsting Bressay Burra Cunningsburgh Delting Dunrossness Fetlar Foula Lerwick Lunnasting Mid Yell Nesting Northmavine |
North Yell Papa-Stour Quarff Sandness Sandwick Skerries South Yell Tingwall Unst Walls Weesdale (now Weisdale) Whalsay & Skerries Whiteness & Weesdale/Weisdale |
Hay's Dock
Lerwick
Shetland
ZE1 0WP
Tel: 01595 695057
Fax: 01595 696729
Email: info@shetlandmuseumandarchives.org.uk
Lower Hillhead
Lerwick
Shetland
ZE1 OEL
Tel: 01595 693868
Information on national archives and links to lists of local archives and libraries can be found on our Scotland Archives and Libraries page.
General advice on census records and indexes can be found on our Scotland Census page.
General advice on parish registers throughout Scotland can be found on our Scotland Church Records page. For information on records for a particular parish, please see that parish's page (where available). Copies of many parish registers may be consulted around the world in LDS Family History Centres.
Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths began in Scotland on 1st January 1855. For details of these records and indexes to them, see our GRO tutorial and our Scotland Civil Registration page.
Records of testaments, inventories etc. are held at the National Archives of Scotland.
See also:
Researchers may be interested in the Shetland GenWeb pages.
The Scotland Surnames List maintained by Graham Jaunay includes Shetland.
See The place-names of Shetland by Jakob Jakobsen, published in 1936.
There is now a surnames list which includes this county. If you are researching any families in Shetland, please consider submitting details to this new list.
The Shetland Family History Society covers this county.
For a social and economic record of the parishes of Shetland, together with masses of statistical material, see Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland which was compiled in the 1790s. The account was reprinted in facsimile form in 1978 by EP Publishing Limited of Wakefield, England and volume 19 deals with Orkney and Shetland.
Follow-up works to this were the New Statistical Account (also known as the Second Statistical Account) which was prepared in the 1830s and 1840s; and more recently the Third Statistical Account which has been prepared since the Second World War.
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GENUKI is a registered trade mark of the charitable trust GENUKI, see About GENUKI as an organisation
This county is maintained by **Job vacancy**.
Page created by Vivienne S Dunstan
[Last updated: 15 Aug 2004 - David Hawgood] 