Deerness (, ,

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

: ''Dyrnes'') is a ''

quoad sacra A ''quoad sacra'' parish is a parish of the Church of Scotland which does not represent a civil parish. That is, it had ecclesiastical functions but no local government functions. Since the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929, civil parishes have h ...

'' parish (i.e. one created and functioning for ecclesiastical purposes only) and peninsula in

Mainland, Orkney The Mainland, also known as Hrossey and Pomona, is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections. Seventy-five per cent of ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It is about south east of

Kirkwall Kirkwall ( sco, Kirkwaa, gd, Bàgh na h-Eaglaise, nrn, Kirkavå) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland. The name Kirkwall comes from the Norse name (''Church Bay''), which later changed to ''Kirkv ...

. Deerness forms a part of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

of St. Andrews and Deerness. There is a shop/post office and a community centre and the Deerness Distillery. Deerness is connected to the rest of the Orkney Mainland by a narrow

isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmu ...

, known as Dingieshowe. Deerness parish consists chiefly of the

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

, but also takes in its surrounding islets of

Copinsay Copinsay ( non, Kolbeinsey) is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, lying off the east coast of the Orkney Mainland. The smaller companion island to Copinsay, Horse of Copinsay lies to the northeast. The Horse is uninhabited, and is managed a ...

, the

Horse of Copinsay The Horse of Copinsay, also known as the Horse, is a rectangular uninhabited sea stack to the north east of Copinsay in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. Name The Norse were fond of zoomorphising smaller islands - for example, smaller islands lyi ...

and

Corn Holm Corn Holm is a small tidal island in Orkney, near Copinsay to the west, off the north-eastern coast of Scotland. There was once a small chapel there,Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) ''The Scottish Islands''. Edinburgh. Canongate. and it is covered ...

. The Brough of Deerness is the site of an early Christian

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

near the north eastern tip of the peninsula.

The Gloup The Gloup () is a collapsed sea cave in the Mull Head Nature Reserve in the islands of Orkney, Scotland. The name derives from the Old Norse "gluppa", meaning a chasm. The cave is separated from the sea by a land bridge about 80 metres wide. I ...

is a sea-cave approximately long and deep just south of the Brough.

The Crown of London shipwreck

The Covenanter's Memorial at Deerness, commemorating the loss in a shipwreck of 200 Covenanters en route to the New World of America (as a punishment), was largely paid for by

Robert Halliday Gunning Robert Halliday Gunning FRSE Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, PRPSE FSA Legum Doctor, LLD (12 December 1818 – 22 March 1900) was a Scottish surgeon, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He did much to improve social conditions in Brazil and al ...

. The inscription on the monument reads "For Christ His Crown Covenant, erected by public subscription Aug. 1888 to the memory of the 200 covenanters who were taken prisoners at Bothwell Bridge, and sentence to transportation for life; but who perished by shipwreck near this spot on 10th December 1679." John Blackadder recorded that a prisoner related the following:

Notable people

Edwin Muir Edwin Muir CBE (15 May 1887 – 3 January 1959) was a Scottish poet, novelist and translator. Born on a farm in Deerness, a parish of Orkney, Scotland, he is remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry written in plain language and wit ...

was born in Deerness in 1887.

References

;Citations ;Sources * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Parishes of Orkney Orkneyinga saga places Mainland, Orkney Persecution of the Covenanters