carnkie
  • carnkie
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17 years ago
Great photo. Brings back a few memories as I sailed passed this place for twenty years on Ocean Weather Ships. Mind it looked a bit different in a force 11. I believe the granite was used for curling stones. Still, better than gravestones. Whicker basket for me.

🔗Ailsa-Craig-Granite-Quarry-User-Album-Image-002[linkphoto]Ailsa-Craig-Granite-Quarry-User-Album-Image-002[/linkphoto][/link]

Edit.
Took some finding on GE.
The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.
Vanoord
17 years ago
Ahhh, granite for curling stones comes from Trefor Quarry on the Llyn Peninsular these days. Quarried by a bloke called Trefor, as happens... ::)
Hello again darkness, my old friend...
skippy
  • skippy
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17 years ago
Granite - that looks like columnar basalt to me...???
The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth

... but not the Mineral Rights...
Level1
  • Level1
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17 years ago
Actually it is riebeckite trachyte, a variety of microgranite. :smartass:
patch
  • patch
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17 years ago
They still make curling stones from the granite. The family who has the rights go over to the island once a year to collect suitable stone. There was a clip on the box about four months ago, on Countryfile, I think. It went in to the history of the stones and this particular family.

Vanoord is right about the Welsh stones. I live only half a miles from the Jocks (Yes I have a machine gun post pointing North, holding em back) and they reckon the Welsh stone doesn't have the same "running" qualities. However they ARE buying the Welsh stones. Could it be that they are cheaper?

🙂
Don't wait for a light to appear at the end of the tunnel, stride down there and light the damn thing yourself
Gwyn
  • Gwyn
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17 years ago
I think that Trevor from Trevor only makes the "roughs", leaving the fine finishing to others.
Ailsa Craig granite, so I am told, can be found in parts of North Wales as glacial debris. The beaches around Nefyn are a good place to look.
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