Deerness - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

The Gloup is part of the Mull Head Nature Reserve, a beautiful part of Orkney's coastline. It was once a long sea cave, but during storms, the waves that entered the cave couldn’t surge any further and crashed upwards. This caused the roof to collapse into the water below. Now the Gloup is an open chasm 70m long, 40m wide, 30m deep and filled with seawater.

The Brough of Deerness is one of the best places to spend a sunny day in Orkney. The gentle walking route in the East Mainland begins at The Gloup and winds its way along the craggy coastline, offering beautiful views out over the North Sea, the island of Copinsay and the chance to spot passing cetaceans.

Mull Head is a nature reserve extending to over 200 acres, taking in coastal grassland, heather moorland, spectacular cliffs and coastal scenery. Paths through the reserve provide for circular walks ranging from 3-5 miles. The highlights of this area are the Gloup, a collapsed cave, Deerness Brough and the headland. In addition, the area sees abundant birdlife in season.

The Italian Chapel is one of Orkney's more unusual attractions but is certainly one of its most visited. It was built during World War II by Italian prisoners of war, who were housed on the previously uninhabited island while they constructed the Churchill Barriers to the east of Scapa Flow. The chapel was not completed until after the end of the war, and was restored in the 1960s and again in the 1990s. It is a popular tourist attraction, and a category A listed building.

The Churchill Barriers are a series of four causeways linking the Orkney Mainland to the islands of Lamb Holm, Glimps Holm, Burray and South Ronaldsay with a total length of 1.5 miles. The barriers were built between May 1940 and September 1944, primarily as naval defences to protect the anchorage at Scapa Flow, but since 12 May 1945, serve as road links between the islands.

Lamb Holm is a small uninhabited island in Orkney, Scotland. The Italian Chapel, constructed during the Second World War, is the island's main attraction. It is classified by the National Records of Scotland as an uninhabited island that "had no usual residents at the time of either the 2001 or 2011 censuses. On the northwest of the island, on the shore of St Mary's Bay, are the remains of a prehistoric settlement which have been designated as a scheduled monument.