The Gloup

The Gloup () is a collapsed

sea cave A sea cave, also known as a littoral cave, is a type of cave formed primarily by the wave action of the sea. The primary process involved is erosion. Sea caves are found throughout the world, actively forming along present coastlines and as relic ...

in the Mull Head Nature Reserve in the islands of Orkney, Scotland. The name derives from the

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

"gluppa", meaning a chasm. The cave is separated from the sea by a land bridge about 80 metres wide. It is approximately 40 metres long and 25 metres deep. It is said that during the 19th and early 20th Centuries that old horses that were no longer fit to work on farms were led over the edge of The Gloup as a cheap and easy way to dispose of them. It is on the east coast of the

Deerness Deerness (, , Old Norse: ''Dyrnes'') is a ''quoad sacra'' parish (i.e. one created and functioning for ecclesiastical purposes only) and peninsula in Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It is about south east of Kirkwall. Deerness forms a part of t ...

peninsula in the parish of St Andrews on the Orkney

Mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...

. Landforms of Orkney Sea caves Caves of Scotland Mainland, Orkney {{Orkney-geo-stub