Fingal's Cave
| Fingal's Cave | |
|---|---|
| An Uaimh Bhinn | |
 Entrance to Fingal's cave, 1900 |
|
| Location | Staffa, Scotland |
| Discovery | 1772 |
| Geology | basalt crystals |
| Number of entrances | One |
| Hazards | partially filled by the sea, slippery rocks |
| Access | public |
Fingal's Cave is a sea cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, part of a National Nature Reserve owned by the National Trust for Scotland.[1] It is formed entirely from hexagonally jointed basalt columns, similar in structure to (and part of the same ancient lava flow as) the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland and those of nearby Ulva. In both cases, the cooling surface of the mass of hot lava cracked in a hexagonal pattern in a similar way to drying mud cracking as it shrinks, and these cracks gradually extended down into the mass of lava as it cooled and shrank to form the columns, which were subsequently exposed by erosion.[2]
Its size and naturally arched roof,[3] and the eerie sounds produced by the echoes of waves, give it the atmosphere of a natural cathedral. The cave's Gaelic name, An Uaimh Bhinn, means "the cave of melody."[4]
The cave was brought to the attention of the English-speaking world by 18th-century naturalist Sir Joseph Banks in 1772.[4][5] It became known as Fingal's Cave after the eponymous hero of an epic poem by 18th-century Scots poet-historian James Macpherson. It formed part of his Ossian cycle of poems claimed to have been based on old Scottish Gaelic poems. In Irish mythology, the hero Fingal is known as Fionn mac Cumhaill, and it is suggested that Macpherson rendered the name as Fingal (meaning "white stranger"[6]) through a misapprehension of the name which in old Gaelic would appear as Finn.[7] The legend has Fionn or Finn building the causeway between Ireland and Scotland.[2]
The cave has a large arched entrance and is filled by the sea. Several local companies include a pass by the cave in sightseeing cruises from April to September.[3][4] However, it is also possible to land elsewhere on the island and walk to the cave overland, where a row of fractured columns forms a walkway just above high-water level permitting exploration on foot.[8] From the inside, the entrance seems to frame the sacred island of Iona across the water.[3]
[edit] In art and literature
Romantic composer Felix Mendelssohn visited in 1829 and wrote Die Hebriden (in English, Hebrides Overture Opus 26, commonly known as Fingal's Cave overture), inspired by the weird echoes in the cave.[4][9] Mendelssohn's overture popularized the cave as a tourist destination.[4][5] Other famous 19th-century visitors included author Jules Verne; poets William Wordsworth, John Keats, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson;[1] and Romantic artist J. M. W. Turner, who painted "Staffa, Fingal's Cave" in 1832.[10] Queen Victoria also made the trip.[1][4]
The playwright August Strindberg also set scenes from his play A Dream Play in a place called "Fingal's Grotto." Scots novelist Sir Walter Scott described Fingal's Cave as "one of the most extraordinary places I ever beheld. It exceeded, in my mind, every description I had heard of it… composed entirely of basaltic pillars as high as the roof of a cathedral, and running deep into the rock, eternally swept by a deep and swelling sea, and paved, as it were, with ruddy marble, [it] baffles all description."[8]
Artist Matthew Barney used the cave along with the Giant's Causeway for the opening and closing scenes of his art film, Cremaster 3. In 2008, the video artist Richard Ashrowan spent several days recording the interior of Fingal's Cave for an exhibition at the Foksal Gallery in Poland.
One of Pink Floyd's early songs bears this location's name. This instrumental was written for the film Zabriskie Point but not used.[11]
Lloyd House at Caltech has a mural representing Fingal's Cave.[12] The hallway that features this mural also houses a wooden statue named Fingal, which is among the oldest heirlooms at the institute.
Scottish Celtic rock band Wolfstone recorded an instrumental titled Fingal's Cave on their 1999 album Seven.
[edit] The dimensions of the cave
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fingal's Cave |
- Wood-Nuttal Encyclopaedia, 1907: 69 m (227 ft) deep, 20 m (66 ft) high.[13]
- National Public Radio: 45 m (150 ft) deep; 22 m (72 ft) high.[14]
- Show Caves of the World: 85 m (279 ft) deep; 23 m (75 ft) high.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c National Trust for Scotland: Fingal's Cave
- ^ a b Formation of basalt columns / pseudocrystals
- ^ a b c Staffa (Fingal's Cave) and the Treshnish Islands The Internet Guide to Scotland
- ^ a b c d e f g Show Caves of the World
- ^ a b Caves and Caving in the UK
- ^ Behind the Name: View Name: Fingal
- ^ Notes to the first edition
- ^ a b Gordon Grant Tours: Fingal's Cave
- ^ Galveston Symphony Program Notes: Mendelssohn
- ^ The Art Archive, JM Turner
- ^ "Unreleased Pink Floyd material" The Pink Floyd Hyperbase. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
- ^ Lloyd House alley list. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
- ^ Wood-Nuttal Encyclopaedia, 1907
- ^ National Public Radio
