SHERBURN. 



SHIELDS, NORTH. 



SHERBURN. [YORKSHIRE.] 



SHERRISGHAM. [NORFOLK.] 



SHEKSEL. [ALGEBIE.I 



SHERWOOD FOREST. [NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.] 



SHETLAND ISLANDS, Scotland, form the most remote group of 

 islands incorporated with Great Britain. They are about 150 miles 

 W. from Buchanness in AberJcenshire, and are separated from the 

 Orkneys, from which they lie N.W., by a channel about 50 miles 

 broad. Excluding the two more detached islands, called Foula and 

 Fair-Isle, the Shetlands lie between 59 52' and 60 5' N. lat, 15' 

 E. long., and I' 50' W. long. Foula is about 20 miles W. from the 

 Mainland of Shetland, and Fair-Isle about 25 miles S. from the nearest 

 headland of the Mainland. The population of the islands in 1851 was 

 31,078. Shetland unites with the Orkneys in the return of one member 

 to the Imperial Parliament. 



Surface, Coait-Lint, <kc. The Shetland group consist* of more than 

 100 inlands, islets, holms, and skerries, 32 of which are inhabited ; the 

 others are either small isles, on which cattle are pastured, or sterile 

 msssfa of rock. The largest of the Shetland Isles, called the Mainland, 

 is about 60 miles long, from its northern extremity, Feideland, to its 

 southern termination, Sumburgh Head. It* breadth varies from 3 

 miles to 10 miles : at one part, from Sandness to Nestingbay, the 

 breadth is 24 miles; but the coasts are singularly irregular, and 

 indented with innumerable deep bays, distinguished by the provincial 

 term 'Voes,' which so penetrate the interior, that no part of the 

 island is more than three miles from the sea. The next largest island 

 is Yell, 20 miles long and 6 miles broad. Unst, the third largest 

 island, U about 11 miles long and 6 miles broad. The other islands 

 are comparatively small : the largest are Fetlar, Whalscy, Bressay, 

 Papa-Stour, Meikle-Roe, Burra, Foula, and Fair-Isle. 



The general appearance of the Shetland Isles, as seen from the sea, 

 is an unvarying line of abrupt coast. The elevation of the highest 

 parts is not remarkable : Roeness Hill, in the Mainland, with an 

 altitude of 1500 feet, is the highest hill in Shetland. Foula is distin- 

 guished from the other islands by a cluster of five lofty hills, termi- 

 nating in pointed cones, the highest having an altitude of 1400 feet. 

 The surface of the islands is rugged and wild, often desolate and 

 sterile. The few tracts of cultivated and fertile land are generally 

 near the coast. The towering headlands that frown over the dark 

 and stormy seas and 'rousts' (as the turbulent serges raised by the 

 conflicting currents and torrents that sweep round the headlands are 

 called) ; the singular pyramids of rock that rise to a great elevation 

 along several parts of the coast ; and the openings of numerous lofty 

 and dark caverns in the precipices of the coast some of great beauty 

 and others of gloomy prandeur an highly picturesque features. The 

 tide* are remarkable for their unequal flow at different parts of the 

 islands, and in opposite directions at the same time. The tide flows 

 an hour earlier along the western than on the eastern rides of the 

 islands, and doe* not recede below high-water mark more than two- 

 thirl part* of the depth of the ebb tide at the Orkney I.lan.ls. 



Otology and Mineralogy. The southern part of the Mainland is 

 composed of a ridge of clay -slate, lying parallel to secondary sandstone 

 and conglomerate on the one side, and small islands of gneiis and 

 sienite on the other. The centra of the Mainland is a solid mass of 

 gneiss, having bluish gray quartz' on the west tide, and district* of 

 sienitic greenstone and granite to the north. The island of- Yell is 

 formed of gni-iss. Unst is chiefly formed of serpentine and diallage 

 rock, bordering on a district of gneiss and another of micaceous shite. 

 Fetlar is similar to Unst ; and the more remote bland of Foula is 

 formed of high hills of sandstone, with clay- and mica-slate, gneiss and 

 granite on its north-eastern shores. Fair-Isle also chiefly consists of 

 sanditoue. There are copper-veins at Sandlodge and in Fair-Isle; 

 iron mica at Titfield-Head, and iron pyrites at Qarthneu. 



Climate, Ayrif allure, Ac. The Shetlands are subject to severe and 

 long continued storms. Winter commences in October. The return of 

 spring it imperceptible till the end of April The climate is variable 

 and humid, but to the natives it U decidedly healthy, and instances of 

 great longevity are not uncommon. 



In the high latitude of Shetland, the light of day at midsummer 

 never totally disappears, and the smallest print can be read at midnight 

 During the winter the night* are proportionally long and dreary; and 

 hi the month of December the sun is not above the horizon more than 

 five hours and a half. 



Agriculture is conducted in a primitive manner; the inhabitant* 

 directing their attention chiefly to the fisheries. The small tenants 

 have a small proportion of arable land, enough to raise a scanty supply 

 of food for themselves and their families, and to allow them to devote 

 the best part of their time to fishing. The lands an also frequently 

 fat under condition that the landlord is to receive all the fish at a 

 fixed price, which enables him to derive a profit from the re-sale ; 

 while on the other band the landlord is the purveyor of the fishing 

 materials, and often of a great proportion of the tenants' food, upon 

 which profit also arises. The climate Is so ill adapted to the raising 

 of eorn, that, although the soil is in several places good, only the most 

 common descriptions of barley and oats are cultivated. The race of 

 Cfttth peculiar to then inlands is of diminutive size. The cow has 

 Inn? point, d boms, and is generally of more than one colour, dingy 

 > white and brown predominating. Three hundred-weight U above the 



average weight of a cow, and three English quarts per day is the 

 utmost quantity of milk yielded. The Shetland pony, or Sheltie, is 

 annually exported in great numbers. These diminutive horses are 

 extremely hardy and vigorous, and undergo much fatigue in proportion 

 to their size. They provide their food from the hill pastures, and are 

 never placed under shelter. The native sheep are remarkably small, 

 and have a degree of nimbleness and vigilance which would be consi- 

 dered foreign to the nature of the animal by persons ouly acquainted 

 with the flocks of other countries. The carcass of one weighs about 

 SOlbs. The colour of their wool, from which stockings and gloves 

 are knit by the natives, is various, being white, dun black, and brown, 

 and all these colours are often blended together in one animal. 



The fisheries are the most important branch of industry. ' Sillocks,' 

 the young of the coal-fish, literally swarm from May until September, 

 close to the shores, affording abundance of a favourite food, and consi- 

 derable quantities of oil. The ling and tuak fishery, in the open sea, 

 is the most valuable and most hazardous, and, together with the cod 

 fishery, contributes more to the prosperity of Shetland than any other. 

 The herring fishery is also followed. The capture of whole herds of 

 whales, known as ' bottle noses,' which approach the coast in pursuit 

 of the herrings, supplies the natives occasionally with supplies of oil 

 of very fine quality. The slaughter of seals iu the deep caverns of 

 the coast is engaged in to au extent sufficient to class it among the 

 fisheries. 



Divitiont, Townt, <t-c. The islands form 14 parishes, under the 

 ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Synod of Shetland. The Free Church 

 has seven chapels, the Independents have six, and the United 

 Presbyterians have two chapels. There are also some chapels for 

 Wesleyan Methodists. The only town is Lerwicl; which is situated on 

 Bressay Sound, on the east side of the Mainland of Shetland. The 

 population of the town in 1851 was 2904. The houses are built close 

 to the water's edge ; and the country being destitute of roads and 

 wheeled vehicles, Lerwick presents a singularly confused appearance, 

 with no other thoroughfare than a tortuous ill-paved path between the 

 houses. It possesses many excellent shops, and has a harbour which 

 is about a mile wide at the south entrance, expands opposite to the 

 town, and again contracts; being fully protected by the shores of 

 Bressay island on the one side, and by those of the Mainland on the 

 other. The number of vessels registered at the port on December 31st, 

 1853, was 62, of 1986 tons burden. During 1853 there entered the 

 port 111 sailing-vessels of 8121 tons, and 28 steam-vessels of 8960 

 tons; and during the same period there cleared from the port 105 

 Bailing-vessels of 8116 ton*, and 28 steam-vessels of 8960 tons. Besides 

 the parish church there are in the town a Free Church and chapels 

 for United Presbyterians and Independents. The only villages which 

 require notice are Scalloway and Hillswick, both on the west side of 

 the Mainland. HiUtvick, population about 200, is 86 miles N.N.W. 

 from Lerwick, and has a finely-sheltered harbour. The inhabitants are 

 chiefly engaged in the ling and the herring fisheries. Many of the 

 lochs in the parish abound with salmon-trout. Besides the parish 

 church, there are chapels for Wesleyan Methodists aud Independents. 

 Scalloway, population about 400, about six miles W. by N. from 

 Lerwick, was formerly the capital of Shetland. The Independents 

 have a place of worship here. Scalloway has a good harbour, and near 

 it along the coast are several commodious voes or bays, which afford 

 convenient shelter to vessels. A short distance east from the village 

 are remains of the castle of Scalloway, built about the year 1600 by 

 Earl Patrick Stewart. 



Hittory, Antiquities, Ac. Antiquaries have long disputed whether 

 the ancient Romans saw the Shetland Isles when they circumnavigated 

 Britain, and much learning has been advanced to connect the T/iule of 

 Tacitus with Shetland. The country wss peopled by Northmen, and 

 was long subject to Norway. About 1380 the line of Norwegian earls 

 ceased to retain their authority, and a Scottish nobleman, Henry 

 Sinclair, obtained the earldom of Orkney, which included Shetland, 

 from the King of Denmark and Norway. It continued in his family 

 for about a century. In 1469 James 111. of Scotland married Margaret, 

 the daughter of the King of Denmark, and with her obtained the 

 Shetlands in security of her dowry, which never having been paid, the 

 islands have since formed part of Scotland. The Norwegian laws and 

 usages continued in force in Shetland until a very recent period, and 

 thus the old laws and observances of Shetland essentially differ from 

 those of Scotland. The free possession of lands is known by the term 

 1 udal,' the proprietors being termed ' udallers,' and this property 

 descends in tho udaller's family without the evidence of any written 

 instrument. The islands now form part of the united sheriffdom of 

 Orkney and Shetland. [ORKNEY.] 



There are several interesting remains of antiquity in Shetland, 

 such as Lawtings, or open courts of justice under the Norwegian laws; 

 round towers, particularly that of Mousa, which is neatly entire; and, 

 of more recent erection, the ruins of the large castle of Scalloway. 



For several years a steam-vessel has plied regularly every week, 

 from March till November, between Edinburgh aud Lerwick in 

 Shetland, calling on its way at Aberdeen and Wick. 



SHIELDS, NORTH, Northumberland, a market-town, sea-port, 

 and conjointly with the village of Tyuemouth a parliamentary 

 borough, in tho parish of Tynemouth, is situated on the left bank and 

 near the mouth of the river Tyne, in 55 1' N. lat., 1 28' W. long., 





