Mainland, Shetland

Mainland

Scottish Gaelic name	Mòr-thìr
Old Norse name	Megenland
Meaning of name	Old Norse for 'mainland'
The cliffs of Eshaness, North Mainland
Location
Mainland Mainland shown within Scotland
OS grid reference	HU414553
Coordinates	60.30°N 1.30°W / 60.30; -1.30
Physical geography
Island group	Shetland
Area	96,879 ha (374 sq mi)[1]
Area rank	3 [2]
Highest elevation	Ronas Hill 450 m (1,476 ft)
Administration
Council area	Shetland Islands
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Demographics
Population	18,765[3]
Population rank	2 [2]
Population density	19.41 people/km^2[1]
Largest settlement	Lerwick
References	[4]

The Mainland is the main island of Shetland, Scotland. The island contains Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick, and is the centre of Shetland's ferry and air connections.

Geography

It has an area of 374 sq mi (970 km^2), making it the third-largest Scottish island and the fifth largest of the British Isles after Great Britain, Ireland, Lewis and Harris and Skye. Mainland is the second most populous of the Scottish islands (only surpassed by Lewis and Harris), and had 18,765 residents in 2011[3] compared to 17,550 in 2001.[5]

The mainland can be broadly divided into four sections:

• The long southern peninsula, south of Lerwick, has a mixture of moorland and farmland and contains many important archaeological sites.
  • Bigton, Cunningsburgh, Sandwick,[6] Scalloway, and Sumburgh
• The Central Mainland has more farmland and some woodland plantations.
• The West Mainland
  • Aith, Walls, and Sandness
• The North Mainland – in particular the large Northmavine peninsula, connected to Mainland by a narrow isthmus at Mavis Grind – is wild, with much moorland and coastal cliffs. The North Mainland contains Sullom Voe, the location of an oil terminal providing an important source of employment for islanders.
  • Brae, North Roe, and Vidlin

See also

• List of islands of Scotland
• List of islands of the British Isles
• Mainland, Orkney

References

1. Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 406
2. Area and population ranks: there are c. 300 islands over 20 ha in extent and 93 permanently inhabited islands were listed in the 2011 census.
3. National Records of Scotland (15 August 2013). "Appendix 2: Population and households on Scotland's Inhabited Islands" (PDF). Statistical Bulletin: 2011 Census: First Results on Population and Household Estimates for Scotland Release 1C (Part Two) (PDF) (Report). SG/2013/126. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
4. Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 978-1-84195-454-7.
5. General Register Office for Scotland (28 November 2003) Occasional Paper No 10: Statistics for Inhabited Islands Archived 2008-04-21 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 July 2007.
6. "Shorewatch". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2008.

External links