Barrel of Butter
skerry in Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, Scotland, UK
The Barrel of Butter, formerly known as Carlin Skerry, is a skerry in Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
Geography and geology
The rock is old red sandstone of the Devonian period. There is no soil of any significance on it.
Located in Scapa Flow, between Mainland and Cava, it has a section permanently above sea level. It is to the north east of Cava, and south of Orphir. It is also north of Flotta.
History
Formerly known as Carlin Skerry, the rock gained its strange name, not from its shape, or position, as is often the case, but from the annual rent paid on it, by the residents of Orphir. In return for a barrel of butter per year, they gained permission from the local laird to hunt the seals on it.
On 21 June 1919, the waters between the Barrel of Butter and Cava became full of scuttled German ships, including the SMS Bayern, Markgraf, Cöln, Dresden and König. Some of these are still popular with divers.
The public source identifies “Barrel of Butter” as skerry in Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, Scotland, UK. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Barrel, Butter and skerry.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4863338. Authority coordinates are 58.891, -3.126. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1919.
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This entry incorporates text from “Barrel of Butter” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.