Yesnaby

Yesnaby is an area in Sandwick, on the west coast of Orkney Mainland, Scotland, south of Skara Brae.

Yesnaby is renowned for its Devonian geology, its crumbly rocks, sea stacks, blowholes, geos, towering cliffs and boiling seas.

The area is popular with climbers because of Yesnaby Castle, a two-legged sea stack just south of the Brough of Bigging. The stack is sometimes described as a smaller version of the Old Man of Hoy.

Stromatolites, fossils from 350 million years ago, can be found on the cliffs. Yesnaby is also one of the very few places where the Primula scotica grows.

Orkney folklore has it that a woman known as the "Yesnaby Healer" had the ability to stop bleeding in any person, even over a distance.

The Orkney composer Peter Maxwell Davies has immortalised Yesnaby through "Yesnaby Ground", an Interlude for solo piano.

Photo gallery

External links

* [http://www.fettes.com/orkney/Geology/Basement/basement%20yesnaby.htm Yesnaby Geology Map]
* [http://www.orkney-seastacks.co.uk/yesnaby.htm A Climber's Guide to Orkney]
* [http://www.visitorkney.com/rockclimbing.asp Official Orkney Tourism site]
* [http://www.orkneyjar.com/folklore/witchcraft/yesnabyhealer.htm Wichcraft in the Orkney Isles: The Yesnaby Healer]