Papa Little
Papa Little is a small island located in the Shetland Islands of Scotland, situated in Sula Voe, a sheltered sea loch on the western side of the Mainland of Shetland. The island is uninhabited today but carries the quiet weight of centuries of human occupation, sitting in a landscape of dramatic coastal scenery that is characteristic of the far north of the British Isles. Its name, like so many place names in Shetland, derives from Old Norse, with "Papa" typically referring to early Celtic monks or priests who inhabited remote island outposts before the Norse settlement of these islands — a naming convention found across Orkney and Shetland where early Christian hermits made their homes.
The island is relatively small and low-lying compared to some of its Shetland neighbours, and its Norse-era name suggests it may once have been used as a retreat by Culdee monks in the pre-Viking period, perhaps as far back as the seventh or eighth century. These wandering Irish and Scottish monks sought out isolated places on the edges of the known world, and the remote sea lochs and small islands of Shetland provided exactly the solitude they craved. After the Norse arrived in Shetland around the ninth century, these "Papa" islands were often absorbed into the new agricultural and fishing economy that the incomers established, and the monastic associations faded into the landscape.
Physically, Papa Little is a modest grassy island, typical of the kind found tucked into Shetland's many voes. The terrain is likely windswept and rough underfoot, with the kind of short, salt-tolerant turf that characterizes islands where grazing has been occasional or has long since ceased. The surrounding water of Sula Voe is dark and relatively sheltered compared to the exposed Atlantic coastline, and the sounds of the place would be dominated by wind, the gentle lapping of water, and the calls of seabirds — fulmars, oystercatchers, and possibly great skuas, or "bonxies," which are a defining presence across Shetland.
The surrounding area on the western Mainland of Shetland is one of the most dramatic landscapes in the British Isles, characterised by treeless hills, peaty moorland, glittering lochs, and deeply indented coastline. The nearby Aith area on the western side of Mainland offers a small community with a lifeboat station — one of the important RNLI stations in Shetland. The broader west Mainland region includes the lovely voes of Weisdale and Whiteness and is within reasonable reach of Lerwick, the capital of Shetland, to the east.
Visiting Papa Little requires access by small boat, as there is no causeway or ferry service. The island is not a formal tourist destination, but those with access to a small vessel or a local contact who can provide boat access can reach it. The best time to visit Shetland as a whole is between May and August, when the extraordinary long daylight hours — in June the sun barely sets, and the famous "simmer dim" twilight lingers through the night — make exploration of the islands deeply memorable. June and July also offer the best chance of seeing Shetland's extraordinary seabird colonies in full activity.
One of the fascinating aspects of Shetland's Papa islands as a collective is what they reveal about the layering of cultures across these islands — first Pictish, then Celtic monastic, then Norse, then Scottish. Papa Little sits within this deep historical current as a quiet reminder that even the smallest and most overlooked islands in Britain often carry stories reaching back more than a thousand years. The very fact that Norse settlers bothered to name this modest island in reference to the holy men who preceded them speaks to the impression those early Christian inhabitants made on the communities who encountered them.