Fingal's Cave island Staffa Inner Hebrides Scotland National Nature Reserve basalt columns column natural cathedral
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. 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. Its size and naturally arched roof, 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." The cave was brought to the attention of the English-speaking world by 18th-century naturalist Sir Joseph Banks in 1772. 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") through a misapprehension of the name which in old Gaelic would appear as Finn. The legend has Fionn or Finn building the causeway between Ireland and Scotland. 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. 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.
Size: 3906px × 2760px
Photo credit: © SOTK2011 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: -fashioned, 1800, 1895, 19th, 2d, academic, age, aged, ancient, antiquarian, antique, antiquity, art, artistic, attraction, bathing, bay, beach, black, book, britain, british, bw, bygone, cave, century, classical, coast, coastal, coastline, copy, cut, cut-, dot, dots, drawing, embossed, empire, england, expression, figure, fingal, fishing, formal, front, graphic, gravel, great, gulf, halftone, hand, hebrides, heritage, historic, historical, history, holiday, holidays, illustrated, illustration, image, ireland, island, isle, isles, kingdom, landmark, master, monotone, national, nineteenth, notable, obscure, obsolete, ocean, olden, original, paper, pebbles, period, photo, photograph, pictorial, picture, portrait, pre, press, print, printed, printing, publication, publicity, rare, real, realism, realistic, reference, relief, replica, represent, representation, repro, reproduce, reproduction, reprographic, resort, retro, rock, romantic, sand, scotland, screen, sea, seashore, shingle, shore, shoreline, social, staffa, standard, steel, studio, style, teach, technique, time, title, tool, topic, topical, tourism, tourist, tourists, town, tract, uk, united, unusual, victoria, victorian, village, vintage, wales, white
