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There is a small inlet on the south east
of the island called The Marble Quarry.
The Iona Marble quarry has a very long
history. It may have been worked as early as 1745 by the
Earl of Breadalbane when he founded the Marble and Slate
Company of Netherlorn.
The quarry was first officially opened
in the late 1700s by the Duke of Argyll but did not
operate for long because the marble was difficult to
extract and transport was uneconomical.
There was a failed enterprise by the
Argyll Quarry Company in the 1800s, which hoped to
extract the stone and ship it from the island on an
industrial scale. The remote and rocky location proved
too hazardous for shipping.
However a final attempt was made and
the quarry reopened again in 1907 and closed for the
last time at the end of World War I.
Today all that remains in the small
inlet are the very rusted remains of a large winch and
cable, a cutting frame, water tank, gas engine,
wheeled platform and white cut stone blocks. These are listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
The path to the Marble Quarry can be
very boggy underfoot and often is nothing more than an
indistinct sheep track. Contact
Mull Magic Walking Tours if you would like a guided walk
to the Marble Quarry and other places on Iona. |
