Outdoor Capital Rocks
by - 12:13 on 21 June 2007
So, another geopark for Scotland, eh? Well done Lochaber, which, along with its centre of Fort William, markets itself as ‘Scotland’s Outdoor Capital’. It’s just secured European Geopark Network status, and is only the second chunk of Scotland to achieve this, after the north-west Highlands.
According to press reports, geologists already ‘flock’ to the area. (What’s the collective name for many geologists. A scree? A boulder-field? No, I think it would be a conglomerate.) And they come to examine the fascinating geology of the area, obviously.
www.lochabergeopark.org.uk
Now, whether or not you positively go out of your way for rocks, Scotland’s sheer variety of rock types also add much to the ambience of the built environment of our towns and cities. The most obvious example is that well-worn epithet of ‘The Granite City’ for Aberdeen. When I was very young, Aberdeen was the nearest big city. Consequently, I grew up thinking that all cities were made of granite. It was a very skewed perspective (but I was only about twelve).
Street market in Aberdeen
But Scotland can celebrate much more than its granite. Think of the unmistakable red sandstone from Locharbriggs near Dumfries which turns up in many other parts of Scotland, notably Glasgow. Then there’s Edinburgh’s own local and distinct greyish yet warm sandstone, creating the elegant facades of the New Town, and also the graceful columns of some of its neo-classical architecture. There’s the characteristic red hue of the ploughed fields you see from train or car as you travel through The Mearns at the top end of Strathmore, before Stonehaven. There’s red sandstone again, say, in downtown Kirriemuir, on the edge of the hills, as well as more silver granite at Dalbeattie at the other end of Scotland in Galloway.
Kirriemuir roofscape
And if Kirriemuir is red, then Dornoch north of Inverness is yellowish and Banchory (on Deeside) mostly pink, but in a nice way. (It’s granite from the Corrennie quarries, nearby.)
So it’s the native stone – and that includes roofing slates from Ballachulish or the Glens of Foudland – that contributes so much to the townscapes of Scotland. Brick? You don’t want too much of that foreign stuff!
*adgoeshere*
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