Foula

 ( Islands Of Shetland ) 

In 2011 Foula had a population of 30 people, living in Hametun and Ham. At the time of the 2022 census the resident population was 17. Islanders previously made a living from fishing – first for whitefish, then lobster. Today, most islanders are crofters with income from Sheep husbandry and birdwatching tourism. The island retains a post office in Ham.

A hidden reef, the "Hoevdi Grund" or the "Shaalds o' Foula", lies just over east of Foula between the island and the Shetland Mainland. Tides here can reach , and as the reef comes to within less than a metre of the surface, it poses a significant threat to shipping. "Hoevdi Grund" Shetlopedia. Retrieved 19 April 2012.

There is little shelter for boats in the island. The only beach is at the head of Ham Voe on the east coast. Local boats, including the mail boat, are hauled out of the water.

The island was one of the last places where the Norn language was spoken (although it is claimed that Walter Sutherland of Skaw in Unst was the last speaker), and the local dialect is strongly influenced by Old Norse. In 1774 George Low, a young Scottish clergyman, visited Foula hoping to find remnants of oral literature in Norn, then nearing extinction.The Language of The Ballad of Hildina (2006–2014) He found fragments of songs, ballads and romances, and from his best source, an old farmer called William Henry, the ballad now known as "Hildina". Henry was quite poorly acquainted with the language, so that, although he had as a child memorised all 35 stanzas of the ballad in the original Norn, he could give Low only a summary of its content rather than a translation.

• Michael Powell's film The Edge of the World (1937) is a dramatisation based on the true story of the evacuation of the last 36 inhabitants of the remote island of St Kilda, on 29 August 1930. St Kilda lies in the Atlantic Ocean, west-northwest of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides; the inhabitants spoke Gaelic. Powell was unable to get permission to film in St Kilda. Undaunted, he made the film over four months during the summer of 1936 on Foula, where the islanders speak Shetland dialect.
• Return To The Edge Of The World (1978) is a documentary capturing a reunion of the 1937 film's cast and crew, 40 years later, as they revisit the island.
• In 2023 Polish writer and director Klaudiusz Chrostowski made a low-budget film Ultima Thule, starring Jakub Gierszał as a 30-year-old man arriving on the island to get over the death of his father. The film was almost entirely shot on Foula and features Arthur Henri, a local inhabitant, in the main supporting role. The film won the Best Micro Budget Film Award at Gdynia Film Festival in 2023.

• Martin Ferguson Smith (b. 1940), scholar and writer. Since retiring in 1995 he has lived in voluntary self-isolation on Foula.
• Ian Holbourn (1872 – 1935), was Laird of Foula, a professor and lecturer at the University of Oxford, and a writer.
• Sheila Gear, author of Foula, Island West of the Sun (published 1983 by Robert Hale Limited). She was born in Oxford and studied zoology at Aberdeen University. She married Jim Gear, a crofter, and wrote a book about crofter life in Shetland.
• John Sands (1826–1900) of Ormiston, was a Scottish freelance journalist and artist with an interest in archaeology and folk customs. He spent almost a year on St Kilda and lived on several other remote islands including Foula.

• Fair Isle
• List of lighthouses in Scotland
• List of listed buildings in Walls and Sandness, Shetland Islands
• List of Northern Lighthouse Board lighthouses

• Ian B. Stoughton Holbourn (2025). 9781841581613, Birlinn. ISBN 9781841581613

• Foula Heritage
• Northern Lighthouse Board
• Picture of Foula Lighthouse
• Foula: Britain's most remote inhabited island