Lerwick, chieftown ofScotland’sShetland Islands, anarchipelago lying 130 miles (210 km) north of the Scottish mainland. Lerwick is the most northerly town inBritain. It is situated on a fine natural harbour on Bressay Sound on the eastern coast of the island ofMainland.

Lerwick originated as afishing village and continued as such until the 19th century, when it became one of the majorherring ports of Britain and expanded accordingly. The “old town,” huddled along the shore, contains many 17th-century buildings—including Fort Charlotte, first built byOliver Cromwell and later burned and restored byGeorge III, whose queen it was named after. Fishing was traditionally the backbone of the economy. Salt fish was exported from Lerwick in the 18th century; whaling and later herring fishing were dominant during the 19th century; and today whitefish, crabs, and lobsters are the mainstay. Large numbers of foreignvessels use the port and supply fish for the many freezing and processing plants. TheNorth Sea oil boom beginning in the 1970s involved Shetland in the exploitation of the rich oil reserves of the eastern Shetland Basin, with its landfall terminal atSullom Voe. This resulted in enormously increased port traffic and the emergence of Lerwick as an oil supply and service base, with associated engineering and ship-repairing industries.

The name Lerwick derives fromNorse, and the strong Norse tradition ofShetland is dramatically represented in Lerwick’sUp-Helly-Aa (Fire Festival) at the end of January, when a full-sized model of a Norse longship is dragged through the town in a torchlight procession and then burned. The town is home to the Shetland Museum and Archives (2007), which containsartifacts relating to the islands’ history. Lerwick is the administrative centre of the Shetland Islands council area. Pop. (2001) 6,910; (2011) 6,960.