SCOTLANDIt requires great love of it deeply to readThe configuration of a land,Gradually grow conscious of fine shadings,Of great meanings in slight symbols,Hear at last the great voice that speaks softly,See the swell and fall upon the flankOf a statue carved out in a whole country's marble,Be like Spring, like a hand in a windowMoving New and Old things carefully to and fro,Moving a fraction of flower here,Placing an inch of air there,And without breaking anything.

So I have gathered unto myselfAll the loose ends of Scotland,And by naming them and accepting themLoving them and identifying myself with them, Attempt to express the whole.

Hugh MacDiarmid (1892 - 1978)(Poem engraved on slab of Corennie granite sponsored by Fyfe Glenrock ofAberdeen)

Navel stone of Caledonmarker of millenniumeye of seer, druid's tongue,world of carlin, - stand uponthis footprint made for everyone.

As pebble cast into a poolsends ripple upon rippleso this sacred stone will tell,bear witness, fair or fell,to our truth and principle.

Once as chiefs stood on Dunaddour land and loyalty they bled, Our corn, our cattle and ourgold -whoso worked with hand orhead:crofter, hunter - Somerled.

Now we forward step once morereclaiming those who walkedbefore:builder, makar, engineer,doctor, printer, traveller,lad o'pairts and balladeer.

A step for Scotland carved instonea parliament without a thronea country each of us can owna wisdom, knowing as we areknown,a going forth and coming home.

Who among us now will workfor light that penetrates the darkfor freedom climbing like the larkfor the democratic spark -whose the tread that fits this mark?

Tessa Ransford

The current living spirit of encouragement within the'Stones of Scotland' requires recognition as a platform fordebate. Within the rich rough edged diversity of thesestones lies a catalyst to encourage every person to lookaround, sense their potential; in this new politicallandscape, urban and rural. People have a new capacityand responsibility as a force to evoke constructive change.

Kenny Munro

"I think of the Stones of Scotland as asymbolic gathering and outlook place. The stones mayrepresent the 32 points of the compass. A place to inspirepeople to meet for discussion from all over the country andfrom all over the world. A less formal meeting point thanthe Parliament building, looking beyond Scotland in thehope of a more peaceful future. The search for the 32stones became a series of creative journeys and a series ofinteresting encounters."Lesley-May Miller

Lothian andBorders RIGS

Group

Regionally Important Geological SiteRegent Road, Edinburgh

Footsteps in time

The Stones of Scotland are in Regent Road Park on thesouth side of Regent Road facing to Arthur's Seat and theScottish Parliament.By bus: Numerous bus services to Princes Street and London

Road.By coach: Coach parking in metered bays alongside entrance.By car: Parking opposite site in metered bays.By foot: From east end of Princes Street about 800 m.

From east end of London Road about 300 m.

The artists would like to thank persons and organisations toonumerous to name here for their help and encouragement withthe Stones of Scotland project. Thanks to Carcanet Press fortheir kind permission to use the poem by Hugh MacDiarmid.

In 1998 Kenny Munro received an award from the ScottishArts Council which enabled the three artists to undertake afeasibility study for the Stones of Scotland project. GeorgeWyllie received a Creative Scotland Award in 2000 from theScottish Arts Council to realise the installation on site.Site for Stones of Scotland is part of a World Heritage Siteand was generously gifted by the City of Edinburgh Council.Produced by Lothian and Borders RIGS © 2006Designed by: Derek Munn Photographs from British Geological Survey collection,Kenny Munro, Raymond Lintern Coordinator: Dr Elspeth UrquhartFunding by Scottish Natural Heritage.

SCOTTISHN AT U R A LHERITAGE

By George Wyllie MBE., Kenny Munro, Lesley-May Millerwith Stuart Rogers of the Paul Hogarth Company

This project grew out of a previous journey in Irelandundertaken by George Wyllie and Kenny Munro when theyvisited the 32 Counties and collected work to create the 'Spiresfor Hibernia'

A new creative journey was planned visiting each of the 32regions of Scotland, involving local communities in finding astone to represent their area in a central sculpture. The chosensite is in Regent Road Park, Edinburgh overlooking the newScottish Parliament.

The official launch ceremony was on 30th November 2002

Geologicaldiversity

Stones of Scotland

INCANTATION

“...this work is a reminder to a newera of Scottish politics that the centremust involve and be legitimised by allthat surrounds it.”George Wyllie MBE

Wyllie has always strivento communicate withaudiences by taking art outof the gallery and into thecommunity. Here too TheStones of Scotland isintended as a meeting placewith a variety of uses - acontemplative retreat, yes,but perhaps also a touriststop, the subject of a schooltrip, or a speakers' forum.

Princes Street

Leith

Walk

Arthur’s Seat

The Castle

Scottish Parliament

Stones of Scotland

How to find the Stones of Scotland

The Stones of ScotlandA sculpture to celebrate the creative spirit in Scotland at the

start of a new millennium

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Waverley Station

South Bridge

North Bridge

Calton Hill

Regent Road

London Road

High Street(Royal Mile)

Holyrood Palace

Edinburgh

Western Isles Sea shore boulder, near Carloway, Lewis. This sea-rounded boulder is of hard banded pink and grey Lewisian gneiss, ahigh-grade metamorphic rock, among the oldest rock in Britain, about2700 million years old.

Argyll and Bute Monumental block of pink granite quarried fromTormore Quarry, Ross ofMull. The granite intrusioncovers 70 km2, and is of lateCaledonian age, 400 millionyears old. The crystals aremostly large pink feldspars,with clear quartz and blackpyroxene. The granite wasglobally popular as abuilding stone, as in IonaAbbey, the pillars of theAlbert Memorial and NewYork Docks.

Stirling Boulder ofmetamorphic rock collectedfrom Tyndrum. Bandedquartzite and mica schist, formed by alterationof sandstones and mudstones. Tyndrum wasfamous for a `gold rush' in the 1800s/1980s

West Dunbartonshire Basalt or andesite igneousrock, probably intrusive. Brownish greyweathered surface, but fresh dark greycrystalline rock on sides. Patches of whitishcrystals.

East Dunbartonshire Grey basalt lava, withobvious large white feldspar crystals; much ironweathering, some white quartz veining.

Inverclyde Dark grey basalt with large blackpyroxene crystals seen on upper surface, anintrusive rock. Inner face is split along red-purple iron-ore veins.

Renfrewshire Block of brecciated lava, probablyCarboniferous, consisting of lava fragmentswelded together. Small holes (vesicles) wereformed by escaping gases in the lava.

East Renfrewshire Rectangular building block ofcoarse sandstone,finely-bedded, withiron-rich layers.Dressed with moss-filled tool marks on topsurface.

City of Glasgow Greymedium-grainedCarboniferoussandstone flagstonewith bedding seen onside; typical ofsandstones widely usedin Glasgow buildings.

North LanarkshireThis angular quarriedblock is medium-grained dolerite, an intrusive rock, with crystalsshowing in one good clean face.

South Lanarkshire Red medium sandstone of Carboniferous age. It isfinely bedded, with red and orange beds set vertically. Brown ironypatches occur. Used extensively in buildings such as the nowdemolished Hamilton Palace.

North Ayrshire Boulder of two parts, the lower part Dalradian grit withvertical lineations, the upper part a whitish quartz vein cutting the grit.Dalradian is Cambrian metamorphic rock.

East Ayrshire Dressed red sandstone block with vertical quarry markson inside face. Probably Mauchline desert sandstone of Permian age,seen in many old buildings throughout the west of Scotland.

South Ayrshire Dark grey medium-grained dolerite block. Surface allweathered, only well seen in broken corner. Gap is split along naturaljoint.

Shetland Grey, fissile sandstone, flagstone, long-used as buildingmaterial as in Broch of Mousa.

Orkney Cut flagstone of fine-grained sandstone, pinkish brown withfine grey laminations. Top surface is dark bedding plane with burrows,very like the Caithness Flags in centre of sculpture.

Highland Marble and grey granite. Greyish white Skye Marblereputedly used in great buildings, such as Iona Abbey, The Vatican, andthe Palace of Versailles. The grey granite has crystals of pale pinkfeldspar, some clear quartz and black pyroxene.

Moray Sandstone from Clashach Quarry on Moray coast, famous forfossil footprints of Permian reptiles (now protected site). In

the part-dressed block, the golden brownis due to iron-staining, darker alongbedding planes and joints, as on outerface. This building stone is widely usedfor prestige buildings such as theMuseum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Aberdeenshire Grey granite boulder witha very weathered surface, but largewhite feldspar crystals visible. Graniteforms a distinctive landscape of roundedhills as around the collection locality atEaster Corriehoule

City of Aberdeen Polished cut block ofgrey crystalline granite with white andpink feldspar, clear quartz and blackpyroxene. Such quarrying of granitebegan in the mid 1700s, with extensive

use of granite as a building material inAberdeen, e.g. Marischal College of the University ofAberdeen, hence it being known as `the granite city'.

Angus Dalradian grit, metamorphosed coarse sandstone,with vertical banding visible through black growth andmoss. The prominent quartz grains make the stone feelrough to the touch.

Perth and Kinross Typical dark grey slate from this regionshowing bedding and cleavage formed in low-grademetamorphism. Slate for roofs was split along the cleavage.

City of Dundee Fife sandstone building block, dressed andtooled, from local demolished building. The grey to pinkish,medium to coarse-grained, micaceous sandstone is possiblyLower Devonian in age. The stone has no fresh surface, andmoss is growing in tooling.

Fife Andesite block from the surface has weathered brownand green with brown irony spots. Fresh surface on topshows dark grey fine-grained crystalline rock with a fewphenocrysts (larger crystals).

Clackmannan Dark grey andesite lava block, with somebrown iron staining along jointed surface. The fresh rock isdark grey and crystalline.

FalkirkBrown-weathered

block of coarse-graineddolerite with pink veinsof microgranite. Small,long crystals (laths) canbe seen. This very hardintrusive igneous rockforms thick hard ridgesin the area which causedproblems for railwayengineers.

City of EdinburghCraigleith Sandstone, apale yellowish grey fine-grained micaceoussandstone, bedded, withripple marks and brownand black carbonaceousplant remains.

East Lothian Pinkmedium-grained igneousrock from TraprainQuarry, more like rockfrom North Berwick Lawthan Traprain Law,though may be fromedge of Traprainintrusion.

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0 100 kilometres

WESTERN

ISLES

PERTH AND

KINROSS

HIGHLAND

ORKNEY

SHETLAND

MORAY

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NORTH AYRSHIRE

SOUTHAYRSHIRE

EASTAYRSHIRE

SL SCOTTISH BORDERS

DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY

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City of Aberdeen City of Dundee City of Edinburgh City of Glasgow Clackmannan East Dumbartonshire East Renfrewshire Falkirk Inverclyde MidlothianNorth Lanarkshire Renfrewshire South Lanarkshire West Dumbartonshire West Lothian

LEWIS

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SOUTHERNUPLANDS

THE STONES OF SCOTLAND32 STONES - ONE FROM EACH OF THE 32 SCOTTISH REGIONAL COUNCILSRegent Road Park, Edinburgh

Descriptions of the geology of each chosen stone and a map showing the diversity of Scotland's geology and the location ofScotland's 32 councils. Although not chosen as an A-Z of Scottish rocks, the stones are a good and useful representative sample ofScottish geology.

Sedimentary Rocks: clastic rocks formed from sediments laid down in water or on land, e.g. sand to sandstone.Igneous Rocks: crystalline rocks formed from molten magma, either as extrusive lavas and ash, e.g. basalt, or underground intrusions,e.g. granite or basaltMetamorphic Rocks: rocks altered by natural heat and pressure at great depth, e.g. slate, schist, gneiss or marble.The Stones of Scotland are of various sources: quarried blocks which are angular, fresher and sometimes cut rock, building stoneswhich may be dressed (cut to shape) and tooled (with incised marks), weathered blocks from the land surface, or rounded bouldersfrom river or shore.Weathering: Some Stones were collected with weathered, encrusted surfaces, other stones had fresh hand-worked surfaces. Over timethe Stones are becoming weathered and overgrown with moss, lichen and black mould, and the geology of the Stones less clear.

Midlothian White sandstone with fossil tree root, Stigmaria, on front.Back shows typical sandstone soil, with varying colours, brown ironypatches, and fine black carbonaceous rootlets.

West Lothian Chosen because of the association with the locallyfamous Gingerbread House. A partly dressed building block, with toolmarks on top; white, fine to medium-grained sandstone, though no freshsurfaces.

Scottish Borders White to pink unbeddedfine to medium-grained sandstone,becoming obscured by black mould andmoss

Dumfries & Galloway Workedblock of Creetowngranite. Crystals seen onclean side - whitefeldspar, clear quartz,black pyroxene. Topsurface is irony jointwith gold-like pyrite.Creetown Granite wasmuch used for buildingand can be seen in thepillars of the George IVBridge, Edinburgh.

EL East Lothian

National Museum of Scotland, EdinburghGingerbread House

Callanish, Lewis

Craigendarroch, Ballater

Mousa, Shetland

Iona Abbey

East Dunbartonshire

West Dunbartonshire