South Havra ( sco, Sooth Haevra; non, Hafrey), formerly Hevera, is an uninhabited island in the

Scalloway Islands The Scalloway Islands are in Shetland opposite Scalloway on south west of the Mainland, Shetland, Mainland. They form a mini-archipelago and include: * Burra, Shetland, Burra (two islands linked by bridge to each other and Trondra) ** East Burra ...

, Shetland,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Geography and geology

South Havra lies south of Burra and west of the southern peninsula of the

Mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...

. The island's rock is "epidiotic syenite with undifferentiated

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

and

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

." The soil is fairly fertile, but the lack of running water meant that, unusually for Shetland, the islanders resorted to building a windmill to grind corn. Geological features on the island include caves and

natural arch A natural arch, natural bridge, or (less commonly) rock arch is a natural landform where an arch has formed with an opening underneath. Natural arches commonly form where inland cliffs, coastal cliffs, fins or stacks are subject to erosion ...

es. Little Havra is to its west.

History

Olaf Sinclair, foud (a kind of magistrate) of all Shetland lived here in the 16th century. The island's ruined windmill is an unusual sight in the Shetland Islands, especially as some have pointed out, that the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

were amongst the archipelago's most frequent visitors. At the censuses of 1871 and 1881 South Havra had a population of 32 and 35, respectively. The island has been uninhabited since 1923. Previously the population was big enough to support a school.

References

Uninhabited islands of Shetland Natural arches of Scotland Scalloway Islands {{Shetland-geo-stub