The Quiraing () is a landform on the eastern face of Meall na Suiramach, the northernmost summit of the Trotternish

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

on the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...

, 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 , and the Prison, a mass of rock resembling a medieval

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

. Like the rest of the Trotternish escarpment, the Quiraing was formed when a thick layer of

flood basalt A flood basalt (or plateau basalt) is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that covers large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava. Many flood basalts have been attributed to the onset of a hotspot (geolo ...

spread over the peninsula and destabilized the weak

sedimentary rocks Sedimentary rocks are types of rock formed by the cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or deposited at Earth's surface. Sedim ...

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

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* {{coord, 57, 38, 27, N, 6, 16, 26, W, region:GB, display=title Mountains and hills of the Isle of Skye Landslides in the United Kingdom