Quiraing

The Quiraing (Scottish Gaelic: Cuith-Raing)^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3][4]

View towards the Quiraing

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.^[5] It has been renowned for its fantastical appearance since the Victorian period. The poet Alexander Smith dubbed it "a nightmare of nature".^[6]

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  View of the Quiraing (left) and the Prison (right)
• 
  The Prison
• 
  The entrance to the Quiraing
• 
  The Needle
• 
  The Table