HISTORIC SCOTLAND TAN 12 QUARRLES OF SCOTLAND
5.08 Marbles Serpentine-rich, coloured marble, the rock known as ophicalcite, is characteristic of the Iona Marble, some of the Skye Marble worked at Torrin and the Ledmore Marble worked near Lairg. Use for ornamental purposes and interior work is encouraged by geological properties of the marble, notably the relative softness
of the rock which aids cutting and the mineralogy which enables the rock to take a polish. At Tomn, white marble is the principal product used as stone chipping on roughcast blocks. Ledmore is the only marble dimensioned stone quarry in the UK (Appendix 2) yielding blocks of a variety of mottled colours.
Marble Quarry, Iona (C2769), c.1920 The coastal Marble Quany at An-t-Ard, Iona worked an Archean (Pre-Cambrian) coloured marble (a serpentine-bearing carbonate rock) which occurs as lenticles in the Lewisian gneiss. The foliation in the gneiss dips steeply from left to right. After an ancient history of intermittent working, the quarry was re-opened during the period 1907 to 1914. The BGS photograph shows a hand-winched crane in front of the cutting frame used for moving blocks and slabs. The crane maker was D Watson & Co., Govan, Glasgow. Another crane was situated on the nearby quay from which the stone was shipped. To the left of centre is a stone with several thin parallel cuts presumably to provide small slabs for ornamental purposes. Photograph courtesy of the British Geological Survey.