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Ailsa Craig
This spectacular island 10 miles off the Ayrshire coast is famous for its gannets and its granite. The latter is in much demand for making curling stones. Boat trips from Girvan.
The island is located approximately 16 km (10 miles) west of Girvan. 2 miles in circumference and rising to 338 metres, the island consists entirely of a volcanic plug of an extinct volcano that might have been active about 500 million years ago. It belongs to the administrative district of South Ayrshire, in the ancient parish of Dailly.
There is a lighthouse on the east coast facing the mainland and a ruined keep of uncertain origins perched on the hillside above.
Ailsa Craig is a 1,114 feet high volcanic rock that protrudes from middle of the Firth of Clyde. With the Ayrshire town of Girvan being only ten miles east of the Craig, some local boat owners offer trips around the rock.
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 1990 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.
