Fingal's Cave
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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.[National Trust for Scotland: Fingal's Cave] It is formed entirely from hexagonally-jointed basalt, similar in structure to (and part of the same ancient lava flow as) the more famous Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. Its size and naturally arched roof,[The Internet Guide to Scotland] and the eerie sounds produced by the echoes of waves, give it the atmosphere of a natural cathedral. The cave's Gaelic name, Uamh-Binn, means "cave of melody".[Show Caves of the World]
The cave was "discovered" by 18th-century naturalist Sir Joseph Banks in 1772.[Caves and Caving in the UK] It became known as Fingal's Cave after classical composer Felix Mendelssohn visited in 1829 and wrote Die Hebriden (in English, "Hebrides Overture|Fingal's Cave Opus 26"), inspired by the weird echoes in the cave.[Galveston Symphony Program Notes: Mendolssohn] (Fingal, Fionn mac Cumhail, was the eponymous hero of a poem by 18th-century Scots poet-historian James Macpherson).
Mendelssohn's overture popularized the cave as a tourist destination. Other famous 19th-century visitors included author Jules Verne, poets William Wordsworth, John Keats and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and impressionist artist Joseph Turner, who painted "Staffa, Fingal's Cave" in 1832.[The Art Archive, JM Turner] The playwright August Strindberg also sets scenes from his play A Dream Play in a place called "Fingal's Grotto." Queen Victoria also made the trip.
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, baffles all description."[Gordon Grant Tours: Fingal's Cave]
The cave has a large arched entrance and is filled by the sea; however, boats cannot enter. Several local companies include a pass by the cave in sightseeing cruises from April to September. However, it is also possible to land elsewhere on the island and walk to the cave overland, where a row of fractured columns form a walkway just above high-water level permitting exploration on foot. From the inside, the entrance seems to frame the sacred island of Iona across the water.
The dimensions of the cave
- Wood-Nuttal Encyclopaedia, 1907: 69 m (227 ft) deep, 20 m (66 ft) high.[Wood-Nuttal Encyclopaedia, 1907]
- National Public Radio: 45 m (150 ft) deep; 22 m (72 ft) high.[National Public Radio]
- Show Caves of the World: 85 m (279 ft) deep; 23 m (75 ft) high.
References
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