Deerness Monument

Mull Head of Deerness

Orkney

NGR -

The tall monument was erected on the cliff top above where the shipwreck took place.

In 2016 the SCMA funded new interpretation panels erected at the site, telling more of the story of the shipwreck.

The inscription on the monument reads:

For Christ His Crown & Covenant

Erected

by

Public Subscription

Aug 1888

to

the memory of

200 Covenanters

who were taken prisoners

at Bothwell Bridge, and

sentenced to transportation

for life but who perished by

shipwreck near this spot

on 10th december 1679.

Deerness

'Crown of London' Shipwreck

On 10 December 1679 the 'Crown of London' was shipwrecked at the Mull Head of Deerness with the loss of 279 Covenanters who had been sentenced to banishment. Most of them were locked in the hold, and the catain refused to allow them to escape. A number did survive, however, and some of them settled on Orkney.