OS grid reference HP612202 Sovereign state United Kingdom Population 0 Council area Shetland | Highest elevation 27 m (89 ft) Country Scotland Island group Shetland Lieutenancy area Shetland | |
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Out Stack or Ootsta in Shetland, Scotland, is the northernmost point of the British Isles, lying immediately 600 m northeast of Muckle Flugga and 1.8 miles (2.9 km) north of the island of Unst. It is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands and lies within the Hermaness National Nature Reserve.
Map of Out Stack, United Kingdom
Out Stack is little more than a rocky outcrop, and is uninhabited. It has been described as "the full stop at the end of Britain". Travellers do not encounter any further land masses between Out Stack and the North Pole if heading directly north.
It is said that Lady Jane Franklin, the wife of the Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin, landed on Out Stack after Dr John Rae's reports of the fate of the Franklin expedition had reached Stromness, Orkney, where she lived, in 1853/54. Although she noted that she wanted to get as close as possible to her missing husband, it must be doubted whether or not she landed on Out Stack. The fact that there was no safe landing was one reason — among others — why Thomas and David Stevenson decided later in the 1850s to build the lighthouse on Muckle Flugga and not on Out Stack.
The Hermaness National Nature Reserve covers the Muckle Flugga rocks and Out Stack, as well as the seabird cliffs and moorland of Hermaness.