UKC

Hi everyone, My friend is trying to do some research and needs to find out if there are any crags in the UK that are Marble? He has found some abroad but neither of us have found any in the UK, could be a daft question but any help would be appreciated.

Cheers
Seb

In reply to sflint:

Marble is metamorphosed limestone, and as a rock type pretty rare in the UK (I suspect there is some in Scotland, most probably Durness limestone). I have no idea whether any of it is climbed on!

In reply to sflint:

I was surprised to see it isn't in the crag database!

The only place i can think of off the top of my head is Torin on Skye on the Elgol road, but no climbing as its a working quarry.

Cheers
Mark

In reply to sflint:

Fairly sure I've seen,but not climbed on, a marble crag on Skye, somewhere between Broadford & Elgol and there is/was marble quarrying at Torrin. Vague idea it was somewhere near the former school which is now used as a hut

In reply to Doug:


You're right http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3688497 I have been in some small caves not far away but don't know if climbing is possible.

In reply to sflint:

There's marble around, but I'm not aware of any climbing on it.

As suggested, there is contact metamorphism of the Durness limestone (e.g. at Ledmore, or on Skye).

Other limestones in the Dalradian have been metamorphosed to marble (e.g. by Ballachulish, by the granite).

The other place to look is in the Lewisian rocks of the North West and the Western Isles - in places, carbonates have been metamorphosed to marble pods amongst the gneiss, e.g. Iona marble quarry. You could maybe boulder there, but the marble is mostly quarried out.