Duirinish is a peninsula on the island of Skye

Skye

Skye or the Isle of Skye is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate out from a mountainous centre dominated by the Cuillin hills...

 in Scotland. It is situated in the north west between Loch Dunvegan

Loch Dunvegan

Loch Dunvegan, is a sea loch on the west coast of the island of Skye in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Dunvegan, the village it was named after is located by its southern shore. The settlements of Galtrigill, Borreraig, Uig and Colbost are located on its western shore. Claigan is located on its...

 and Loch Bracadale

Loch Bracadale

Loch Bracadale is a sea loch on the west coast of Skye in Scotland.Loch Bracadale and its associated inner lochs - Harport, Vatten, Caroy, Bharcasaig, na Faolinn and Loch Beag - form one of the largest areas of semi-enclosed inshore waters around the Skye coast. The shallow waters are exploited for...

.

Skye's shape defies description and W. H. Murray wrote that "Skye is sixty miles long, but what might be its breadth is beyond the ingenuity of man to state". Malcolm Slesser

Malcolm Slesser

Malcolm Slesser was a Scottish energy analyst, scientist and mountaineer.-Biography:Slesser graduated from Edinburgh University. He began mountain climbing when he was young. In the 1950s Slesser joined an expedition to the Arctic...

 suggested that its shape "sticks out of the west coast of northern Scotland like a lobster's claw ready to snap at the fish bone of Harris and Lewis", which would make Duirinish one of the claws.

The main peaks are Healabhal Mhòr and Healabhal Bheag

Healabhal Bheag

Healabhal Bheag is a hill located on the Duirinish peninsula of Skye in the Inner Hebrides. It is also known as MacLeod's Table South and is part of the prominent pair of peaks known as MacLeod's Tables that dominate the views to the west of Dunvegan and to the north of the Harlosh peninsula....

, which reach 469 metres (1,538.7 ft) 488 metres (1,601 ft) respectively and are better known as MacLeod's Tables. They lie in the centre of the peninsula and their distinctive shapes are visible throughout much of north west Skye. Dunvegan Head marks the north end of the peninsula and Idrigill Point the south.

The west coast is now uninhabited and offshore there are only a few small islets: An Dubh Sgeir, An Stac and Macleod's Maidens. The latter are three stacks

Stack (geology)

A stack is a geological landform consisting of a steep and often vertical column or columns of rock in the sea near a coast, isolated by erosion. Stacks are formed through processes of coastal geomorphology, which are entirely natural. Time, wind and water are the only factors involved in the...

 that resemble statues and were named after the drowning of a MacLeod

MacLeod

MacLeod and McLeod are surnames in the English language. Variant forms of the names are Macleod and Mcleod.Generally, the names are considered to be Anglicised forms of the Scottish Gaelic MacLeòid, meaning "son of Leòd". However, in some cases the names can also be Anglicised forms of the Irish...

 chieftain's wife and two daughters.

There are a number of small settlements principally along the west coast of Loch Dunvegan, including Borreraig

Borreraig

Borreraig is a crofting settlement in Duirinish, north-west of Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. The MacCrimmon Piping Heritage Centre is based in the village....

 (home of the piping MacCrimmons

MacCrimmon (piping family)

The MacCrimmons were a Scottish family, pipers to the chiefs of Clan MacLeod for an unknown number of generations. The MacCrimmon kindred was centred at Borreraig near the Clan MacLeod seat at Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye...

), Colbost

Colbost

Colbost is a scattered hamlet on the B884 road, in the Glendale estate, overlooking Loch Dunvegan on the Scottish island of Skye.The two main attractions of this small settlement are the The Three Chimneys restaurant and the Croft Museum.-Three Chimneys:...

 with its Three Chimneys restaurant, Skinidin, Galtrigill and Totaig

Totaig

Totaig is a small crofting settlement on the west coast of Loch Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye and is in the Scottish council area of Highland.The village of Dunvegan is located 5 miles to the south east....

. Lephin and Glendale

Glendale, Skye

Glendale is a community-owned estate on the north-western coastline of the Duirinish peninsula on the island of Skye and is in the Scottish council area of Highland...

 are further west. The latter is a substantial community-owned estate, and its "martyrs" played an important part in the Highland Clearances

Highland Clearances

The Highland Clearances were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands during the 18th and 19th centuries. They led to mass emigration to the sea coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and the North American colonies...

. The settlement of Lorgill on the west coast was cleared on 4 August 1830. Every crofter

Croft (land)

A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer.- Etymology :...

 under the age of seventy was removed on threat of imprisonment, with those over that age being sent to the poorhouse

Poorhouse

A poorhouse or workhouse was a government-run facility in the past for the support and housing of dependent or needy persons, typically run by a local government entity such as a county or municipality....

. Orbost and Roag

Roag

Roag , meaning noisy place or 'deer bay' in Norse, is a small remote scattered hamlet on the north west shore of Pool Roag, and is in the west of the Duirinish peninsula, on the Isle of Skye, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland....

 are further south on the shore of Loch Bracadale. Crofting remains a mainstay of the economy.

The village of Dunvegan

Dunvegan

Dunvegan is a town on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It is famous for Dunvegan Castle, seat of the chief of Clan MacLeod...

 itself is the main settlement of the area and is located on the east shore of the loch just outside Duirinish. Nearby is Dunvegan Castle

Dunvegan Castle

Dunvegan Castle is a castle a mile and a half to the North of Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye, situated off the west coast of Scotland. It is the seat of the MacLeod of MacLeod, chief of the Clan MacLeod. Dunvegan Castle is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland and has been the...

, which has been the seat of Clan MacLeod

Clan MacLeod

Clan MacLeod is a Highland Scottish clan associated with the Isle of Skye. There are two main branches of the clan: the Macleods of Harris and Dunvegan, whose chief is Macleod of Macleod, are known in Gaelic as Sìol Tormoid ; the Macleods of Lewis, whose chief is Macleod of The Lewes, are known in...

 since 1200.

Historically, Duirinish was also a parish in the county of Inverness-shire

Inverness-shire

The County of Inverness or Inverness-shire was a general purpose county of Scotland, with the burgh of Inverness as the county town, until 1975, when, under the Local Government Act 1973, the county area was divided between the two-tier Highland region and the unitary Western Isles. The Highland...

. The parish was larger than the peninsula and included Vaternish

Waternish

Waternish or Bhatairnis/Vaternish is a peninsula approximately long on the island of Skye, Scotland, situated between Loch Dunvegan and Loch Snizort in the northwest of the island, and traditionally inhabited and owned by Clan MacLeod whose clan seat is at the nearby Dunvegan Castle. The current...

 and Edinbane

Edinbane

Edinbane is a small village on the island of Skye, Scotland.-Location:Edinbane lies on the A850 road at the foot of the Waternish Peninsula on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, 14 miles from Portree and 8 miles from Dunvegan...

.

The Gaelic name Diùranais or Diùirinis means "deer headland" and is in part derived from the Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

dyr. The peninsula is also known as dùthaich nam mogan, meaning "land of the mogan shoes", and the inhabitants as moganaich.