Brother Isle
| Old Norse name | breiðare øy |
|---|---|
| Meaning of name | broad beach island |
| West end of Brother Isle West end of Brother Isle | |
| Location | |
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| OS grid reference | HU425815 |
| Coordinates | Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. |
| Physical geography | |
| Island group | Shetland |
| Area | 40 hectares (99 acres) |
| Area rank | 220= [1] |
| Highest elevation | 25 metres (82 ft) |
| Administration | |
| Council area | Shetland Islands |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 0[2] |
| Lymphad | |
| References | [3][4] |
Brother Isle (Old Norse: breiðare øy meaning broad beach island) is a small, uninhabited island in Shetland, Scotland. It lies between the islands of Yell and Shetland Mainland. It is 40 hectares (99 acres) in size.
Geography and geology
[edit | edit source]The island's rock is "undifferentiated moine gneiss and quartzite."[3]
History
[edit | edit source]It is sometimes assumed that the "Brother" in the name refers to Culdees/papar who were frequent inhabitants of the smaller islands, however, in this case there is no apparent evidence for this claim, and it would appear to be merely folk etymology.
At only 40 hectares in size (about 1/6 of a sq. mile) and surrounded by tidal rips which make landing difficult, it would seem unlikely that the island has ever been inhabited. However, Brother Isle was inhabited until the 1820s, latterly by brothers with the surname Tulloch. This led to the mistaken assumption that the island's name referred to them.
In 2004, a lighthouse was built on the island.
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Area and population ranks: there are c. 300 islands over 20 ha in extent. 93 permanently inhabited islands were listed in the 2011 census and 101 such islands in 2022.
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