Mail is a
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
on the island of
Mainland, in the
Shetland Islands
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
The islands lie about to the no ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
Geography
Mail is located on the south-eastern side of the island of
Mainland adjacent to the
A970 road
The A970 is a single-carriageway road that runs from south to north of Mainland Shetland, Scotland. The road also spurs to Scalloway and North Roe
North Roe is a village, and List of Special Protection Areas in Scotland, protected area at th ...
some south of
Lerwick
Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010.
Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...
, between
Cunningsburgh and
Sandwick. It lies almost on the
60th parallel north. Mail has two beaches, the Sands of Mail and the Beach of Mail, separated by the promontory of Bur Ness. Bur Ness contains the Mail churchyard, which has been the site of various archaeological finds.
History
Bur Ness was the site of Mail's chapel. The chapel was part of Cunningsburgh parish, now part of Dunrossness. Nothing is known of the chapel except that it was the recognised church of the area from a very early date. However, the churchyard still remains.
Archaeology
Several
Pictish gravestones dating from the 7th century have been found in the churchyard, including the Mail Stone, with an incised Pictish figure, found in 1992. Gravestones have also been found with
Norse runes, indicating
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
activity in the area, as well as inscriptions in
Ogham.
Evidence of earlier
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
archaeology is also present. Located on a tidal islet at Bur Ness is the site of the former
Broch
A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Their origin is a matter of some controversy.
Origin ...
of Mail. The broch is now non-existent. However, a visit in 1934 indicated the circular foundation of a broch tower, although there are no visible traces, having been covered by turf.
References
External links
{{commons category, Mail, Shetland Islands
Canmore - Elizabeth: Sand of Mail, Cunningsburgh, North Sea site recordCanmore - Secret: Mails Ayre, Cunningsburgh, North Sea site recordCanmore - Heroine: Mail, Cunningsburgh, North Sea site recordCanmore - Lizzie Jane: Mail, Cunningsburgh, North Sea site recordCanmore - Semper Paratus: Mail, Cunningsburgh, North Sea site record
Villages in Mainland, Shetland