The Maiden Pap is a hill located in
Caithness
Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland.
Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by ...
,
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 an
inselberg
An inselberg or monadnock () is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain.
In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, a ...
, formed of
Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...
conglomerates, rising steeply out of the surrounding plain and visible from as far away as
Hoy
Hoy ( sco, Hoy; from Norse , meaning "high island") is an island in Orkney, Scotland, measuring – the second largest in the archipelago, after Mainland. A natural causeway, ''the Ayre'', links the island to the smaller South Walls; the tw ...
and the
Moray Firth
The Moray Firth (; Scottish Gaelic: ''An Cuan Moireach'', ''Linne Mhoireibh'' or ''Caolas Mhoireibh'') is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotl ...
.
The Pap is so named because its shape resembles that of a human
breast
The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues.
In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and secret ...
.
See also
*
Paps of Anu
The Paps of Anu ( ga, Dá Chích Anann, "the breasts of Anu") are a pair of breast-shaped mountains near Killarney in County Kerry, Ireland. The eastern summit, The Paps East, is high and the western top, The Paps West is high.
The mountains ...
*
Pap of Glencoe
, photo = Pap_of_glencoe.jpg
, photo_caption = The Pap, seen from across Loch Leven
, elevation_m = 742
, elevation_ref =
, prominence_m = 156
, prominence_ref =
, listing = Graham, Marilyn, Breast-shaped hills
, translation = Rocky pe ...
*
Paps of Jura
The Paps of Jura ( gd, Sgurr na Cìche) are three mountains on the western side of the island of Jura, Scotland, Jura, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Their highest point is .
They are steep-sided quartzite hills with distinctive conical sh ...
*
Breast-shaped hill
References
External links
Hiking in the Highlands
Caithness
Marilyns of Scotland
Mountains and hills of the Northwest Highlands
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