BRESSAY-BURRA-AND-QUARFF, a parish, in
the county of Orkney and Shetland; containing 179S
inhabitants, of whom 904 are in the island of Bressay,
and 8*0 in the late quoad sacra district of Burra and
Quarff. These three ancient parishes, now united, comprehend
six islands and a part of the tract called Mainland.
The district of Bressay is to the east of the mainland,
and consists of the islands of Bressay and Ness,
separated from each other by Ness Sound, and from the
mainland by Bressay Sound. Bressay island, which is
nearly six miles long, and varies in breadth from two to
three miles, exhibits a highly-diversified surface, especially
in the western portion, where the rugged features
of the coast, the tracts of arable land stretching from
south to north, and sloping to the sea, interspersed with
cottages, with lofty hills rising in various directions,
contribute to form a scene marked to a considerable
extent by beauty and grandeur. Among the elevated
ridges running in irregular lines through the island, and
the spaces between which are covered with a mixture of
pasture and peat-moss, is a dorsal eminence on the
eastern side, called St. Andrew's or Ander hill, upwards
of 400 feet in height. At the southern extremity is a
lofty elevation called the Ward; also Beacon hill, rising
7'24 feet above the level of the sea, and which is covered
with peat-moss and various kinds of short grass and
heath: its sombre hue and majestic height render it a
striking object in the scenery. The coast is every where
rocky, abounding with fissures, caverns, and headlands,
the last chiefly in the southern portion of the island;
and there are twelve lochs, which, however, are of very
inconsiderable dimensions, only two or three having the
extent of half a mile in length or breadth: some of them
are celebrated for their fine trout.
There are several sounds or channels, formed by, and
taking their names respectively from, the islands to
which they are adjacent. The chief is Bressaij Sound,
which expands into a fine bay towards QuarfF, on the
south, where its waters deepen, and afford excellent
anchorage for vessels in stress of weather. Many hundreds
of Dutch boats, in time past, used to resort hither
to fish for herrings; but the sound has derived its
greatest celebrity from other circumstances. In this
fine harbour, the fleet of King Haco was moored several
days after sailing from Norway in his unsuccessful expedition
against Scotland. In later times, the notorious
Earl of Bothwell, who had fled to Shetland for safety,
being pursued in his adversity by Kirkaldy of Grange,
with great difficulty escaped by sailing out at the northern
entrance of the sound, in which direction his enemy's
vessel, attempting to follow him, was wrecked on a very
dangerous rock, since called the Unicorn after the name
of the shij). The other channels are, Ness Sound, less
than a quarter of a mile broad, supposed to be about
twenty feet deep, and dangerous to pass with an easterly
wind; Cliff Sound, not quite half a mile broad, with nine
or ten fathoms of water, and of difficult navigation in
stormy weather; and Stream and Burra Sounds, the latter
of wliich is the safest and most tranquil of the whole,
and peculiarly adapted to small vessels.
The quantity of land under tillage is small compared
with the waste, and employed chiefly in the cultivation
of oats, bear, and potatoes, the two first being sown in
alternate years, and potatoes once in four or five years.
The soil is manured with a compost of sea-weed, dung,
and mossy earth, and with the garbage of herrings: the
last is held in high repute for the purpose. Some improvements
have been made in agriculture within these
few years, chiefly in rebuilding the farm-cottages in a
superior manner; but various obstacles, the want of
leases, the state of the roads, and especially the poverty
of the inhabitants and their extensive occupation in
fishing, repress all systematic attempts to establish agriculture
on a good footing. The annual value of real
property in the parish is ilS^?. The rocks in Bressay
and Ness are the old red sandstone; in Quarff, clay-slate
and mica slate; and in the isles of House, Burra, and
Halvera, of the primitive formation. At Bressay there
are flag and slate quarries in operation, the produce of
which is shipped to different parts of the country, and
sometimes sent to the south; and in QuarfF and Burra
several species of limestone of inferior quality are found.
The lands appear to have been formerly better wooded
than they are at present, trunks of trees, of some bulk,
being found among the mosses. The only plantations
recently made are in the vicinity of the mansion-house,
and consist of willow and ash, the former being the most
flourishing; and near these, of older growth, are aspen,
elm, laburnum, poplar, and plane trees, which seem to
be in a thriving condition.
A large proportion of the population is engaged in the
flsheries, the principal of which are those of ling, cod,
and herrings. Various other kinds of fish, such as tusk,
halibut, skate, whiting, and flounders, are taken at different
times; and sillocks, on which the inhabitants to
a considerable extent live, are taken throughout the
whole year: oysters, also, are found at Burra in abundance.
The ling-fishing employs about thirty boats,
generally carrying six men each. The cod-fishery, beginning
about Whitsuntide, occupies numerous sloops of
between fifteen and twenty tons' burthen; and at the
termination of this fishing that for herrings commences
(usually in the month of August), in which tiie same
boats are employed as those engaged in the ling-fishing,
with some of larger size. About thirty women and
children are employed in Bressay, during the season, in
curing herrings; and the manufacture of herring-nets has
recently excited much interest among the inhabitants:
nearly every female in Quarff above six years of age is
occupied in knitting woollen-gloves, and those in Burra
in knitting stockings. For ecclesiastical purposes the
parish is in the presbytery of Lerwick, synod of Shetland,
and in the patronage of the Earl of Zetland; the
minister's stipend is £158. 6. 8., with a manse, rebuilt
in 1819, and a glebe valued at £1-2 per annum. The
church, which is conveniently situated, was erected in
1815, and contains 370 sittings. There are places of
worship for dissenters. The parochial schoolmaster has
a salary of £25. 13., and teaches reading, writing, arithmetic,
and book-keeping. See Burka, Ness, &c.