Ailsa Craig

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This article is about Ailsa Craig, a Scottish island. See Ailsa Craig, Ontario for the Canadian town.
Ailsa Craig

Ailsa Craig (note the Kintyre peninsula in the background)
Elevation 338 m (1109 ft)
Location Firth of Clyde, Scotland
Prominence 338 m
Topo map OS Landranger 76
OS grid reference NX019997
Listing Marilyn

Ailsa Craig (Gaelic: Creag Ealasaid, meaning Elizabeth's rock) is an island 2 miles in circumference in the outer Firth of Clyde, Scotland.

Contents

[edit] Geography

The island is located approximately 16 km (10 miles) west of Girvan, and belongs to the administrative district of South Ayrshire, in the ancient parish of Dailly. Rising to 338 metres, the island consists entirely of a volcanic plug.

There is a lighthouse on the east coast facing the mainland and a ruined keep of uncertain origins perched on the hillside above.

[edit] History

Ailsa Craig was a haven for Roman Catholics during the Scottish Reformation.

In 1831, the twelfth earl of Cassillis became first Marquess of Ailsa, taking the title from the Craig, which was his property.

From the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries, the island was quarried for its rare type of micro-granite with riebeckite (known as "Ailsite") which was used to make curling stones. The floor of the Chapel of the Thistle in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh is also made of this rock.

Ailsa Craig is now uninhabited, the lighthouse having been automated in the 1970s and the quarry long since disused. The island is now a bird sanctuary. Huge numbers of gannets nest here and following a pioneering technique to eradicate the island's imported population of rats a growing number of puffins are choosing to return to the Craig from nearby Glunimore and Sheep Islands.

The name Elizabeth is actually a corruption of Elspeth, and refers to Elspeth McCrudden, daughter of Alexander "Sawney" Bean who planted The Hairy Tree in the Ayrshire town of Girvan (which is visible from Ailsa Craig). Local legend holds that Elspeth tried (unsuccessfully) to swim to Ailsa Craig to escape the mob who later hanged her from The Hairy Tree.

[edit] Alternative names

The name of the island is an anglicisation of the Gaelic, Aillse Creag, or Creag Ealasaid, Elizabeth's rock. However as a result of being the most conspicuous landmark in the channel between Ireland and Scotland the island features in a number of early Celtic texts and is known by a number of different names;

  • A' Chreag: "the rock"
  • Creag Alasdair: "Alasdair's rock"
  • Ealasaid a' Chuain: "Elizabeth of the ocean"
  • Alasan

Today the island is known locally as Paddy's Milestone as it approximately marks the halfway point of the sea journey from Belfast to Glasgow, a traditional route of emigration for many Irish labourers coming to Scotland to seek work.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. The Scottish Islands, Hamish Haswell-Smith ISBN 1-84195-454-3
  2. 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
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