Quiraing

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Landform in Scotland

title: "Quiraing" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mountains-and-hills-of-the-isle-of-skye", "landslides-in-the-united-kingdom"] description: "Landform in Scotland" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiraing" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Landform in Scotland ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/North_over_the_Quiraing,_Isle_of_Skye.jpg" caption="View towards the Quiraing"] ::

The Quiraing () 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 ft, 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".

File:The Needle and The Prison, Quiraing, Isle of Skye.jpg|View of the Quiraing (left) and the Prison (right) File:"The Prison" rock formation in Quiraing, Isle of Skye.jpg|The Prison File:The Needle and the Prison near Quiraing area in summer 2012 (1).JPG|The entrance to the Quiraing File:The needle, Quiraing - geograph.org.uk - 3460986.jpg|The Needle File:Solitary figure on the Table - geograph.org.uk - 1803543.jpg|The Table

References

References

  1. Henderson, George. (1910). "The Norse Influence on Celtic Scotland". James MacLehose.
  2. Groomes, Francis H.. (n.d.). "Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical, and Historical". William Mackenzie.
  3. Townsend, Chris. (2001). "Collins Rambler's Guide: Isle of Skye". HarperCollins.
  4. McKelvie, Robin and Jenny. (2011). "National Geographic Traveler: Scotland". National Geographic.
  5. Ballantyne, Colin K.. (2008). "Scottish landform examples – 2: The landslides of Trotternish, Isle of Skye". Scottish Geographical Magazine.
  6. Smith, Alexander. (1866). "A Summer in Skye". Alexander Strahan.

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