Looking west across northern Stroma. The Gloup is visible in the top right. Where is Mill of Netherton?

Image courtesy of Alan Moar

Stroma

Significance: The great storm of 1862... swept the sea over the north end of the island of Stroma... and redistributed the ruin heaps there. The waves ran bodily up and over the vertical cliffs on the west side, 200 feet in height, loading portions of wrecked boats, stones, seaweeds etc. on the top. They rushed in torrents across the island, tearing up the ground and rocks in their course towards the old mill at Netherton on the opposite side.

C. W. Peach in Geikie (1887) p 64



The cliffs along the west side of Stroma are impressive and locally undercut. The Gloup is one of the most impressive in northern Scotland. Steers (1973) suggests that the cliffs on the east coast are fossil features.

The account of the 1862 storm indicates an extreme sea state in the Pentland Firth. The cliffs on the north side of Stroma rise to 30 m OD and would require wave heights of around 20 m for water to overtop the cliffs. There is little sign on air photographs of cliff top storm deposits above 20 m but the spillway certainly exists. Perhaps the account is somewhat exaggerated but the event requires detailed examination.