Brian Smith

Archivist at the Shetland Museum and Archives

A Day in Bigga

August 11th 2021

Bigga, a little island in Yellsound, 80 hectares in extent, is not easy to visit. It has been uninhabited for 200 years, largely ...

May 18th 2021

In recent years there has been a lot of discussion about the ‘wulver’, Shetland’s ‘kind and generous werewolf’, as someone ...

May 11th 2021

Between around 1615 and 1680 Shetland was afflicted by a mania that was disturbing other parts of Europe. Ordinary Shetlanders and ...

April 20th 2021

Sometime in the 1920s a middle-aged businessman in Lerwick began to write stories. He didn’t write about his native town. The hero ...

January 19th 2021

With the cancellation of Up Helly Aa there will be no torchlit procession, galley burning or all night partying this year. These ...

July 15th 2020

Archivist Brian Smith retells the story of cousins Peter and Olla, two very different characters, who met one notable New Year's eve. ...

June 17th 2020

In December 1883, Lerwick Man James Teit emigrated to Canada where he lived and worked with indigenous communities, listening and ...

June 3rd 2020

Archivist Brian Smith delves into the incredible story of his ten-times great grandfather the accomplished and unruly Ninian Neven. ...

April 22nd 2020

One of Shetland’s more remarkable archaeological sites is Da Croon o Da Ura, in Unst, just about the most northerly part of the ...