AILSA CRAIG

'Ailsa Craig' is an island in the outer Firth of Clyde, Scotland where granite was quarried to make curling stones.

Contents

Geography

History

Alternative names

Gallery

Footnotes

References

External links

Geography

The island is located approximately 16 km (10 miles) west of Girvan. 2 miles in circumference and rising to 338 metres, the island consists entirely of a volcanic plug. It belongs to the administrative district of South Ayrshire, in the ancient parish of Dailly.
There is a lighthouse on the east coast facing the mainland and a ruined keep of uncertain origins perched on the hillside above.

History

Ailsa Craig was a haven for Roman Catholics during the Scottish Reformation.
In 1831, the twelfth earl of Cassillis became first Marquess of Ailsa, taking the title from the Craig, which was his property.
From the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries, the island was quarried for its rare type of micro-granite with riebeckite (known as "Ailsite") which was used to make curling stones. The floor of the Chapel of the Thistle in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh is also made of this rock.
Ailsa Craig is now uninhabited, the lighthouse having been automated in the 1970s and the quarry long since disused. The island is now a bird sanctuary. Huge numbers of gannets nest here and following a pioneering technique to eradicate the island's imported population of rats a growing number of puffins are choosing to return to the Craig from nearby Glunimore and Sheep Islands.
The name Elizabeth is actually a corruption of Elspeth, and refers to Elspeth McCrudden, daughter of Alexander "Sawney" Bean who planted The Hairy Tree in the Ayrshire town of Girvan (which is visible from Ailsa Craig). Local legend holds that Elspeth tried (unsuccessfully) to swim to Ailsa Craig to escape the mob who later hanged her from The Hairy Tree.

Alternative names

The name of the island is an anglicisation of the Gaelic, '''Aillse Creag''', or '''Creag Ealasaid''', Elizabeth's rock. However as a result of being the most conspicuous landmark in the channel between Ireland and Scotland the island features in a number of early Celtic texts and is known by a number of different names;

★ ''A' Chreag'': "the rock"

★ ''Creag Alasdair'': "Alasdair's rock"

★ ''Ealasaid a' Chuain'': "Elizabeth of the ocean"

★ ''Alasan''

★ ''Carraig Alasdair'': Also "Alasdair's Rock", used in the ''Madness of Sweeney'' The Scottish Islands, Haswell-Smith, Hamish, , , Canongate, ,
Today the island is known locally as 'Paddy's Milestone' as it approximately marks the halfway point of the sea journey from Belfast to Glasgow, a traditional route of emigration for many Irish labourers coming to Scotland to seek work.
The Bass Rock is sometimes nicknamed "the Ailsa Craig of the East", but its prominence in the Firth of Forth is not as great as that of Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde.

Gallery

Ailsa Craig, with Kintyre penisula in the background

Basalt columns on the south-west side of the island

The lighthouse, taken from the castle

Ruined castle

Eagle's Seat, a sea cliff

A grassy meadow at the north end of the island

The north quarry, a source of curling stones

The path to the quarry, formerly a railway

Shingle beach on Ailsa Craig

The summit ridge, looking towards Loch Ryan

Cliffs on Ailsa Craig

One of two disused foghorns on Ailsa Craig

Footnotes

1. 2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland
2. Ordnance Survey
3. Placenames Iain Mac an Tailleir

References

★ ''1911 Encyclopedia Britannica''

External links

★ Entry on the Maybole Home Page

★ Ailsa Craig Index — computer-generated virtual panoramas