The Quiraing (Scottish Gaelic: Cuith-Raing) is a landform on the eastern face of Meall na Suiramach, the northernmost summit of the Trotternish escarpment on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. It takes the form of a craterous hollow surrounded by a high rampart of rock. Within the hollow is a raised plateau the size of a football field, known as the Table. Other distinctive features of the landscape are the Needle, a jagged pinnacle rising to 120 feet (37 m), and the Prison, a mass of rock resembling a medieval keep.
Like the rest of the Trotternish escarpment, the Quiraing was formed when a thick layer of flood basalt spread over the peninsula and destabilized the weak sedimentary rocks below, causing a succession of landslides. It has been renowned for its fantastical appearance since the Victorian period. The poet Alexander Smith dubbed it "a nightmare of nature".
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View of the Quiraing (left) and the Prison (right)
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The Prison
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The entrance to the Quiraing
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The Needle
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The Table
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References
- Henderson, George (1910). The Norse Influence on Celtic Scotland. Glasgow: James MacLehose. p. 61.
- Groomes, Francis H. (n.d.). Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical, and Historical. Vol. 5 (2nd ed.). London: William Mackenzie. pp. 231–232.
- Townsend, Chris (2001). Collins Rambler's Guide: Isle of Skye. London: HarperCollins. pp. 55–59. ISBN 978-0-00-220200-8.
- McKelvie, Robin and Jenny (2011). National Geographic Traveler: Scotland. Washington: National Geographic. pp. 234–235. ISBN 978-1-4262-0671-9.
- Ballantyne, Colin K. (2008). "Scottish landform examples – 2: The landslides of Trotternish, Isle of Skye". Scottish Geographical Magazine. 107 (2): 130–135. doi:10.1080/00369229118736821.
- Smith, Alexander (1866). A Summer in Skye. London and New York: Alexander Strahan. p. 232.
External links
Media related to Quiraing at Wikimedia Commons
57°38′27″N 6°16′26″W / 57.64083°N 6.27389°W / 57.64083; -6.27389
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