Bigga, Shetland

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Bigga, Shetland
Location
Bigga, Shetland
Bigga, Shetland shown within Scotland.
OS grid reference:	HU444792
Names
Gaelic name:
Norse name:	bygdey
Meaning of name:	Old Norse for "island of the building"
Area and Summit
Area:	78 ha
Area rank (Scottish islands):	161=
Highest elevation:	34 m
Population
Population (2001):	0
Groupings
Island Group:	Shetland
Local Authority:	Shetland Islands
References:	[1][2][3][4]

Bigga is an uninhabited island in the Sound of Yell between the Mainland and Yell in Shetland, Scotland.

[edit] Geography and geology

Just over a kilometre long, Bigga is 78 ha in size, and is 34 metres tall at its highest point. Bigga is a long thin island with a "head" and a "torso". The neck is formed by the bays of Wester Hevda Wick and Easter Hevda Wick, "hevda wick" being an anglicisation of the Norn/Old Norse for "seaweed bay".

Cattle and sheep were formerly farmed here.

The island is split between the parishes of Delting, and Yell.^[5]

Bigga consists of Moine bedrock of coarsely-crystalline gneiss and quartzite.^[2]

[edit] History

It is thought that the name comes from the Old Norse bygdey meaning "island of the building", which may refer to an old structure.

In the southern part of the island, there is an old well, chapel and burial ground. There is a small prehistoric cairn in the north of the island. In the north is the remains of Norrabister, the island's "settlement".

The Pribislaw, a 160 year old German sailing vessel ran aground here in 1870. She had been one of many sailing boats that took German emigrants from Hamburg to Victoria, in Australia, around the middle of the 19th century. Moved to Lerwick, she was used as a store and workshop until the 1950s. In 2005 the remaining timbers were excavated and transported to Whittlesea, Australia.^[6]

During World War II, two sailors from neighbouring Yell wanted to return to their native island to celebrate Yule (Christmas) during their shore leave. The weather was stormy and snowy and the usual ferry between the Mainland and Yell was not running, so they borrowed a friend's boat. Forced to land on Bigga, they sheltered in the bothy and danced, and played the fiddle in order to stay warm. They managed to reach Yell the next day.^[2]

[edit] References

1. ^ 2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland
2. ^ ^{a b c} Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate.
3. ^ Ordnance Survey
4. ^ Anderson, Joseph (Ed.) (1893) Orkneyinga Saga. Translated by Jón A. Hjaltalin & Gilbert Goudie. Edinburgh. James Thin and Mercat Press (1990 reprint). ISBN 0-901824-25-9
5. ^ Bigga Isle. British History online. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
6. ^ Pribislaw on her last voyage. The Shetland News (February 2005). Retrieved on 2008-01-05.

Coordinates: 60°29′42″N 1°11′27″W / 60.495, -1.19083

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