Yell

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North Yell - Looking over Kirks / Gloup with Wick of Whallerie on centre right.
Shetland Islands
OS Name: Yell
Shetland Name: Yell
UK Grid Reference: HU492935
Area (ha): 21211 ha
Population: 957 (2001 census)
Community Council: Yell
Ferry Services: ro-ro from Toft
Notes:
File:White ex 50.jpg
The White Wife

Yell, formerly also known as Zell, is one of the North Isles of Shetland. In the 2001 census it had a usually resident population of 957.

Ferries sail from Ulsta on the island to Toft on the Shetland Mainland and from Gutcher on Yell to Belmont on Unst and Hamars Ness on Fetlar. Other settlements on Yell include Burravoe, home to the Old Haa Museum, located in a house dated to 1672, Mid Yell, Cullivoe, Gloup and Sellafirth, where the Bayanne House Museum is.

The coastline of Yell includes numerous voes where otters and seabirds including merlins, skuas and red-throated divers are common.

Attractions on the island include an Iron Age fort at Burgi Geos, the Sands of Breckon composed of crushed marine animal shells, and the Daal of Lumbister gorge.

A more special attraction is Windhouse, a little north of Mid Yell, it is said to be the most haunted house in Shetland.

In Gloup, North Yell, a memorial has been placed in memory of the 58 fishermen who lost their lives in a storm on July 21 1881.It is known as "The Gloup Disaster".

On the Hill of Arisdale there is a memorial to the souls lost on the site where a Catalina crashed in January 1942

Also worth seeing is "The White Wife of Otterswick", a figurehead from the German ship Bohus that wrecked in Otters Wick in 1924


Yell was home to the naturalist Bobby Tulloch, the author William J. Tait, the 19th C. scholar Laurence Williamson of Gardie and it had a special affection for the artist Adam Robson. Peerie Willie Johnson came from Da Herra and the storyteller and folklorist Lawrence Tulloch is from Gutcher.

The Morning Star wrecked on the isle in 1802, as did the Wenskabminde on the west coast on February 10th 1815.

Businesses

File:PicGloupYell.jpg
Cemetery at Gloup, Yell
File:PicGloupYellDriftwood.jpg
Driftwood in the Gloup - Driftwood, especially large stems, were always a valuable rsource for the islanders.
File:PicOldHaBurravoe.jpg
The Old Haa of Burravoe (1987)

See also

External Links

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