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

Geography and geology

Just over long, Bigga is in size, and is 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 language, Norn/Old Norse for "seaweed bay". Cattle and sheep were formerly farmed here. The island belongs at the same time in common to the Civil parish#Scotland, civil parishes of Delting and Yell. Bigga consists of Moine Supergroup, Moine bedrock of coarsely-crystalline gneiss and quartzite.

History

It is thought that the name comes from the Old Norse ''bygðey'' 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, Victoria, Whittlesea, Australia. During World War II, two sailors from neighbouring Yell (island), 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.

Footnotes

Uninhabited islands of Shetland Former populated places in Scotland {{Shetland-geo-stub