Pentland Firth

The Pentland Firth is a strait which separates the Orkney Islands from Caithness in the north of Scotland. Despite the name, it is not a firth. EtymologyThe name is presumed to be a corruption of the Old Norse "Petlandsfjörð", meaning "the fjord of Pictland", and is completely unrelated to the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh. Prior to the Norse occupation of Orkney the strait was known as the "Sea of Orcs" – a reference to the Pictish tribe who inhabited Orkney. Such was their marine prowess that there are also instances of this name referring to the sea lanes of the entire west coast of Scotland down to Kintyre. One version of the 9th-century Historia Brittonum states that "the Britons originally filled the whole island with their peoples from the English Channel to the Sea of Orcs". GeographyOn the Caithness side the Firth extends from Dunnet Head in the west to Duncansby Head in the east, while on the Orkney side from Tor Ness on Hoy in the west to Old Head on South Ronaldsay in the east. In the middle of the Firth are two significant islands, Stroma and Swona. The small Pentland Skerries group are in the east. The islands of Hoy and South Ronaldsay border the firth to the north and are part of the Orkney Islands.

The Pentland Firth is a strait which separates the Orkney Islands from Caithness in the north of Scotland. Despite the name, it is not a firth. EtymologyThe name is presumed to be a corruption of the Old Norse "Petlandsfjörð", meaning "the fjord of Pictland", and is completely unrelated to the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh. Prior to the Norse occupation of Orkney the strait was known as the "Sea of Orcs" – a reference to the Pictish tribe who inhabited Orkney. Such was their marine prowess that there are also instances of this name referring to the sea lanes of the entire west coast of Scotland down to Kintyre. One version of the 9th-century Historia Brittonum states that "the Britons originally filled the whole island with their peoples from the English Channel to the Sea of Orcs". GeographyOn the Caithness side the Firth extends from Dunnet Head in the west to Duncansby Head in the east, while on the Orkney side from Tor Ness on Hoy in the west to Old Head on South Ronaldsay in the east. In the middle of the Firth are two significant islands, Stroma and Swona. The small Pentland Skerries group are in the east. The islands of Hoy and South Ronaldsay border the firth to the north and are part of the Orkney Islands.