Strongly peraluminous, cordierite-bearing anatectic dacites from the offshore Tertiary Erlend volcanic centre, north of the Shetland Isles, are shown to contain graphite which is interpreted as being essentially a restite phase inherited from carbonaceous pelitic source rocks. The form and characteristics of the graphite are documented and graphite geothermometry applied to establish that the graphite records a minimum peak temperature of ∼800°C, confirming that temperatures at which anatexis occurs were attained. The different morphological forms of graphite observed suggest the possibility that minor amounts of fluid-deposited graphite may also be present. The chemistry of the Erlend dacites is compared with that of other known examples of graphite-bearing peraluminous silicic igneous rocks and briefly with experimentally generated peraluminous liquid compositions. The Erlend source rocks were probably subjected to a higher degree of partial melting than has occurred in the petrogenesis of many other anatectic peraluminous silicic rocks.