On the rugged west coast of Shetland’s Mainland lies one of the archipelago’s most atmospheric and geologically striking islands: Papa Stour. Shaped by time, tides and a thousand Atlantic storms, Papa Stour is a land of towering sea stacks, echoing caves, rare birds, and long memory. Though home to only a handful of people today, the island was once a thriving crofting and fishing community — and its natural and human history still speak loud through the wind and waves. This is the wonderful land of Papa Stour Shetland.
How to get to Papa Stour Shetland?
A visit to Papa Stour is an adventure. The island lies about four miles off the west side of the Shetland Mainland and is reached by ferry from West Burrafirth, a short drive north of Walls. The ferry runs several times a week — more often in summer — and takes around forty-five minutes, passing through a patchwork of skerries and inlets before landing on Papa’s eastern shore. You can also take small private boats or sea kayaking tours, though tides and weather must be carefully considered. It is not a place to approach casually, but one to be visited with care and curiosity.
Human History
The name “Papa Stour” means “Big Island of the Priests” in Old Norse, a reference to its early Christian history. In the 12th and 13th centuries, it was the site of a Norse chapel and settlement, and many of its place names still echo Viking roots. Its strategic location made it important to both Norse seafarers and later Scottish traders. At its peak, in the 19th century, the island supported over 300 residents. Today, fewer than ten people live on the island year-round, but its beauty and significance have never faded.
Leper Colony on Papa Stour
In the Middle Ages, Papa Stour was home to a remote leper colony—one of several scattered across the Northern Isles. Those afflicted with leprosy were exiled to this windswept edge of Shetland to live in isolation, cared for by local monks and sustained by fishing and subsistence farming. Though no physical traces remain today, the island’s long memory and place names echo this forgotten chapter of its history, a stark reminder of how disease shaped communities in the far north.
German Trading Post and Fulmar Oil
Centuries ago, Papa Stour was a key outpost in a bustling trade network, with German merchants establishing a seasonal trading post on the island. They bartered for goods such as dried fish, wool, and notably fulmar oil—a pungent, valuable commodity extracted from the stomachs of seabirds and prized as lamp oil and waterproofing. This unique oil, harvested by local crofters from nearby cliffs, was exchanged for tools, cloth, and salt, linking this remote Shetland isle to Hanseatic ports on the far side of the North Sea.
Papa Stour is perhaps best known for its extraordinary coastal scenery. The island is composed of soft volcanic rock — mainly rhyolitic tuff, which weathers easily and dramatically under wave action. Over centuries, the sea has carved an intricate maze of caves, blowholes, arches and stacks into the cliffs. There are more sea caves here than anywhere else in Shetland, and arguably anywhere else in Britain. Some are wide and airy, others narrow and twisting; some reach deep into the land, their ceilings glinting with salt crystals and the splash of reflected light.
The most famous of these is the Hole of Bordie, a collapsed sea cave whose floor is now an open chasm ringed with seabird nests. There’s also the Brei Geo, a spectacular inlet where waves crash and churn between high walls of coloured rock, and the Cathedral Cave, whose arched roof and echoing interior give it a grandeur worthy of its name. Many of these caves can be explored by kayak or dinghy when the sea is calm — but extreme caution is needed. Others can be seen from cliff paths, where puffins, guillemots and razorbills cluster in summer, their calls echoing off the rock.
Birds of Papa Stour
Birdwatchers find plenty to admire on Papa Stour. In addition to puffins, the cliffs host fulmars, shags, black guillemots, and kittiwakes, while the moorland interior is home to skylarks, wheatears and breeding great skuas. Inland lochans attract red-throated divers and waders like snipe and curlew. Because the island is less disturbed than many others, wildlife tends to be approachable and photography rewarding.
The walking on Papa Stour is exceptional. A circular route around the island takes in almost all its major features — from sea stacks and arches to quiet lochs and ancient croft ruins. Most walkers start from the ferry pier and head west towards the Stacks of Silwick, then around the north cliffs to Virda Stacks and Fogla Skerry, a dramatic area where the sea constantly reshapes the coastline. The full circuit is around 6–7 miles, with rough ground and occasional bog, so sturdy boots and windproofs are essential.
The island’s human history is as rich as its geology. Archaeological finds suggest habitation stretching back to the Iron Age, and Norse longhouses have been identified at multiple sites. Later, crofting and fishing dominated island life. Papa Stour was famous for its haaf fishing — deep sea fishing using six-oared boats that ventured far offshore in summer to catch cod and ling. These dangerous journeys fed not just the island but wider Shetland and beyond.
Like many Shetland islands, Papa Stour has witnessed tragedy. Shipwrecks were common on its reefs and headlands, especially in winter storms. The wreck of the Dutch ship Phoenix in 1682 is one of the best known. Struck by a storm, the ship went down off the island’s western coast, and much of its cargo — including barrels of wine — was salvaged by islanders. Parts of the wreck are said to remain buried in sand and seaweed along the shore. Oral histories also tell of other losses: a fishing crew caught in a sudden gale, a cargo ship dashed against the rocks at Fogla Skerry, a lost sailor buried in the kirkyard beneath a plain stone.
In contrast to such drama, there are quieter traces of island life too. Ruins of croft houses lie softened into the grass, their stone walls sheltering wildflowers and nesting birds. The remains of St Laurence’s Chapel, a medieval church, stand among turf-covered dykes and peat tracks. And inland, the outlines of old rigs and lazybeds — used for potato growing and grain cultivation — still pattern the ground. Papa’s soil, though thin, was worked with care for generations.
Modern Papa Stour
Today, the island’s few residents maintain a quiet rhythm of life. Crofting continues on a small scale, with sheep grazing the hillsides and tracks used for quad bikes instead of carts. Electricity, internet, and mobile coverage are available, but life remains shaped by weather, ferry schedules, and community resilience. There is a community hall, a small airstrip (used in emergencies), and occasional visiting services, but no shops or cafés. Visitors must bring all provisions, and are warmly welcomed as long as they respect the land and the people who live here.
For those who linger longer, Papa Stour offers not just scenery, but solace. The island has long attracted artists, writers, and musicians — drawn by its light, its shapes, and its remoteness. In the 1970s, the folk singer Aly Bain and others visited and recorded local tunes and oral stories. More recently, filmmakers and photographers have used the island as a backdrop for work that blends natural drama with human quietness.
Why Papa Stour Shetland?
There is something enduring about Papa Stour Shetland. It is not just a place of erosion and collapse, but of survival and reimagining. The sea caves deepen, the cliffs shift, but the heart of the island — its sense of place, its history, its seabird cries and salt-spray stories — remain vivid and alive.
To walk here is to walk through aeons of time and through lives once lived. It is to peer into caves where the ocean sings and to climb headlands where sheep graze above shipwreck bones. It is to glimpse a different pace and scale of life, shaped by elements we too often forget: stone, wind, tide and memory.