Back to Iona...
Dec. 24th, 2010 12:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
endlessraritiesI've taken a well-earned break from cleaning the kitchen counters. We've become a laundry service - our neighbours (not the noisy ones) and J's daughter are both suffering from washing machine crises today.
Methinks the thaw is beginning to set in (hey, it's only -1 in the porch today!) and as a result, evil things are afoot in the water department. So far, we're holding out, but... It's all very well looking after your internal pipework. If the ground freezes so deep that the supply pipes are frozen solid, what can you do?
Ulp... I can envisage all sorts of evil possibilities involving mini-diggers and happy, happy, plumbers. Thankfully the neighbour in question is well in with the construction brigade...
No more of this negativity! I thought I'd take a wee trip back to Iona, for an entirely different type of site/monument, and one which you've probably never heard of...
There's a few places in the world I've always wanted to visit. Like Knossos. And Pompeii. And Barcelona. And Carcassone. And the Iona Marble Quarry.
It's not much to look at, but my interest goes back years. When I was a child, my mother took on an important role as head of the household-thought-police. I was banned from reading girly comics like the Bunty and the Judy. Instead, I was introduced to a wonderful comic called Spellbound, which had a variety of tales, including a long running serial involving four space ranger type girlies who had weekly adventures in outer space. It was a bit like X-men meets Futurama meets The Four Marys... There were, in addtiion, school tales, horsey tales, etcetera, all with a fantastical or supernatural twist.
The comic also had non-fiction features about mystical places, and one of these talked about the myths and legends and history of Iona. I remember reading in this article about a special kind of pebble with so-called mystical properties which was found only on an isolated beach on Iona. So, being interested in geology at the time, I decided that some day I was going to find one of these magical Iona pebbles.
Fast forward twenty years. I was doing some work for the council, and I stumbled across the Iona Marble Quarry. The marvellous pebbles I'd been fascinated by as a child were none other than Iona marble, and once upon a time, there'd been an industrial enterprise on the island which quarried the stuff. So when we holidayed on Mull, I made it my mission to visit the marble quarry on nearby Iona.
It's in a wonderfully scenic part of the island, close to the beach where St Columba reportedly first made landfall. I'd love to have shown you the bay, but unfortunately we didn't take any photographs, which was very remiss of me, I know. We were probably too busy getting lost - this end of the island is only accessible on foot, and the map we were using was not very helpful.
This was the object of our quest, a tiny little quarry tucked away at the south end of the island:-
It operated in the late 19th and early 20th century, if I remember right, with production finally ceasing due to lack of demand for what is a rather beautiful stone: brilliant white, with green veins.
When I got there, I was not disappointed. The machinery remains intact in places, adding to the atmosphere:-
Quarrying resumed here briefly in recent years, with a large slab of Iona marble removed for a new altar which now sits in pride of place at the nearby Abbey. I suppose it's a shame that Iona marble isn't better known, but I quite like the fact that this desolate place still exists at the end of the island. It feels like the edge of the world.
And the magical properties of the stone itself? It was only when I visited Iona that I learned the superstitions behind it. Being in possession of a piece of Iona marble is supposed to safeguard the carrier against shipwrecks.
I wonder if it works for aeroplanes, too...
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Date: 2010-12-24 01:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-24 02:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-24 01:31 pm (UTC)I never got to see the quarry though because I've only been for day trips and you have to fit in with the tides so there is limited time for exploring.
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Date: 2010-12-24 02:08 pm (UTC)We were staying across the strait in Fionnphort, so we took the first ferry across, hiked up to the marble quarry, then hiked back to the abbey and caught the last one home. It was an action-packed day, and much cake was consumed...
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Date: 2010-12-24 02:39 pm (UTC)It's a lovely place.
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Date: 2010-12-24 03:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-24 03:39 pm (UTC)It was a fun little comic for a not-very-mundane child. It even had a regular Yoga feature, so again my comics are defaced because I used to cut out the Yoga bits and file them elsewhere.
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Date: 2010-12-24 03:59 pm (UTC)My dad was the thought police at my house. I wasn't allowed to wear mary-jane-style dress shoes until I was in my teens, and I could change a tire and check a car's oil before I could drive.
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Date: 2010-12-24 04:05 pm (UTC)that have been altered & improved
"authentic kiddy breakfast circa 1900's included..."
I 2nd the scanned idea
pretty please with coco puffs on top?
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Date: 2010-12-24 04:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-24 04:18 pm (UTC)Thanks, Mum! (Who no doubt is eavesdropping, from the realm of the Ancestors...)
You know? At times like this, I really miss her. I was watching Fellowship of the Ring last night, wistfully realising that she never had a chance to see the third film. She would have loved the Faramir/Eowyn get-together- she was a big Faramir fan. Please don't feel sorry for me - I mean all this in a positive way. I'm currently thinking of the exchange between Theoden & Merry, which startsalong the lines of 'Never again will we sit in the halls of Meduseld smoking pipes & reminiscing together'...
Ah, Christmas. Tis the season to be mawdlin...
i love going on your forays!
Date: 2010-12-24 04:02 pm (UTC)i can imagine hitting the airport ..
"turn out your pockets"
and filling the trays with rocks and seashells
and even sand... spoze if i had baggies labeled -rocks. sand shelll
it'd be easier to get it all
back in me pockets?
wouldn't want to put the name place on so they wouldn't make me give it back?
i'm gonna have to go looking for those comix!
one of the friends [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] on LJ has a comic & sf book store
Re: i love going on your forays!
Date: 2010-12-24 04:20 pm (UTC)Methinks the actual quarry may be a scheduled ancient monument, so it's technically illegal to remove stuff. Finding bits outwith the actual quarry was tricky, but then, that's the art of beachcombing...
Re: i love going on your forays!
Date: 2010-12-24 04:22 pm (UTC)I was so tempted to bring some bits of pottery back with me, but I reminded myself that I'm a Heritage Professional and Must Not Behave in Such a Foolish and Immature Manner... Some of my fellow tourists did try and filch some sherds and were given Severe Ticking Offs by the custodians.
I just felt smug and morally superior...
Re: i love going on your forays!
Date: 2010-12-24 08:03 pm (UTC)Re: i love going on your forays!
Date: 2010-12-26 11:58 am (UTC)I just don't do it when I'm abroad, 'cos it's bad manners...
There was a beach on Crete which was littered with bits of amphorae and stuff. Rim sherds, handles, etc. I could have had a field day:-(
Re: i love going on your forays!
Date: 2010-12-25 12:16 am (UTC)i'd be happy to find em, look at em
would like to point them out to the pro
they need as many pieces of the puzzle possible
to remake stuff.. pots, history..
but beach coming falls into
the scavenge from the sea category
the best thing i've found
was a pretty chunk of pale green jadeite...
in the sound in seattle.
& a carnelian hammer from the road
i will ask the town ship fellow which quarry they
get road gravel here, plenty of lake superior agates
along the side of the road...
did find a bit of thrown pottery but that not very old
he prehistory pottery here was hand built,
think its from the potter up the street,
a mixture of brown and white stoneware ;8 ^j
Re: i love going on your forays!
Date: 2010-12-26 11:53 am (UTC)The jadeite was a lucky find!
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Date: 2010-12-24 05:16 pm (UTC)I'm also intrigued by the Spellbound stories. There wasn't a thought police in my family, just a heartfelt introduction to interesting stuff. My Dad had me reading Heinlein and Teilhard de Chardin in middle school. I asked him years later if he'd ever really thought through the impact that would have on me and he smiled and said, "no, I guess not." *lol*
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Date: 2010-12-24 05:50 pm (UTC)I had no objection to that kind of thought police. In many aspects of my life, I was given free rein. I don't know where the love of horses came from, or the urge to play the French Horn. Though my involvement in archaeology also stemmed from my mother - she taped Frank Delaney's programme 'The Celts' and that's what got my interest...
But a love of French light opera and Routemaster buses never manifested itself, much to my father's chagrin... And I got my revenge later on, when I was able to positively influence my mum on all manner of things, from Blur and the Doors to C J Cherryh. She was very receptive to new things...
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Date: 2010-12-24 07:40 pm (UTC)This time of year, I miss my folks a good deal.
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Date: 2010-12-26 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-24 06:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-26 04:37 am (UTC)