Foula

On the same latitude as St. Petersburg is the bald, the westernmost island. Since the turn of the 20th century it is one of the Holbourn family.

The 12.65 km ² island is permanently inhabited with a population of about 30 people. Since the nearest settlement is 35 km away, Foula is considered the most remote of all inhabited British Isles. The film Edge of the World Foula used as a filming location.

The island is known for its cliffs on the west side that are up to 370 meters high, and the variety of its birds, including terns and red-throated divers. Simon Martin, who spent five years on Foula, describes the island as:

" Foula, or Ultima Thule, as it was known during the time of the Romans, enough out of the water, and the five peaks Noup, Hamnafield, Sneug, Kame and Soberlie are stiff and characteristic upward. The cliffs are those of St. Kilda as the highest in the UK. They pile up around 400 meters over the sea level.

The surface of the island consists largely of a peat bog on the rock. On the island a large number of prehistoric and early historical structures exist that are more general, but also reflect the typical situation of the windswept island. They are filled with Old Norse terms:

Archaeological finds

A team of archaeologists from Bath discover 2007 ancient stone circle in this remote place in Britain. It is similar to other circles of the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age. The date of the ring, which was hidden under a layer of peat 60 cm high, is still unclear. The team has peat samples for further analysis taken in the hope that the pollen provide clues to the date. The orientation of the stone ring on the winter solstice is of great importance because in the winter there is only a few hours of daylight. The knowledge that the days are getting longer and warmer was therefore very important. The circle on Foula is next Hjaltadans on Fetlar the northernmost in Scotland.

• Boat NoOST; Cubicles in boat shape as wind protection for boats ( Ham Ayre, Da Doon, Da Riggs, Strem Ness )
• Burnt Mounds; prehistoric ash hill ( Harrier. Wurly Knowe )
• Cairns; Stone tombs (Da Sneug, Da Auld Skeos, Lamu o da Wilse, North Harrier, South Ness - more )
• Cooie Dykes and Dykes Croft; Pastures limitations of earthen walls, stone walls or fences on steep sites or to pasture around ( Bloburn )
• Prehistoric dikes and terraces;
• Old house foundations; (North Harrier courtyard and chapel )
• Horizontal water mills ( Bankwell, Stoel )
• Kail yards; mounded, sheltered fields ( Biggins Hill )
• Maid Cairns; piled heap of stones as a navigation mark
• Mooldikus ( Mouldie Kus ); steinumwallte for drying established Torfhaufen ( Soberlie )
• Mounds; artificial hill
• Planticrubs; sheltered steinumwallte fields ( Bankwell, Stoel )
• Sheep Cruie; Schafcoralls and Gripster funnel-shaped Leitmauern to round up the animals
• Snaa Buils; Snow houses as a shelter for sheep
• Skeos: Fish drying houses ( Quinister, Sloag )
• Stane Brig: stone bridges
• Stone cists (English Cist ) ( Since Brederin )

Foula is for linguists of interest, discovered new vocabulary of the old Norn here. The theologian George Low, who visited Shetland in 1774 years, the dialects of Foula and Orkney compared with each other and gathered material for linguistic history of the island. His Ballad of Orkney Earl and the Norwegian princess is with 35 verses, the longest poem in the old Norn. Since 1928, when it was still spoken on Foula and Unst, but it is extinct. To date, the Scottish English, particularly the dialects in Shetland and Orkney, heavily influenced by the Norn. Norn was, as Icelandic and Faroese, a language westskandinavische ( Inselskandinavisch ). The Faroese comes the Norn the next.

Calendar

Foula retained the Julian calendar, even when, after the United Kingdom had adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. The year 1800 thus appeared as a leap year, while 1900 was not taken as a leap year. As a result, Foula is therefore today the Julian calendar, one day ahead, the Gregorian calendar trailing twelve days. Christmas Day thus falls on the 6th of January (Gregorian ) New Year's Day on the 13th of January (Gregorian ). Who wants to visit or leave the island on the days in question, inform yourself exactly twice: The holidays are - well- respected in Shetland - twice celebrated and, accordingly, rests the ferry and air traffic.

Infrastructure

The island still has no electric supply. Three times a week runs the passenger ferry from Walls and Scalloway, and several times a week Loganair flights from Tingwall from the island to.