PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Iain Thornber, Knock House, Morvern, Argyll Tel: 01967 421651 Mobile (patchy reception) 07796412026 Email: iain.thornber@btinternet.com 19 March 2012 Immediate release NEW FIND IN FINGALS CAVE ON THE FAMOUS ISLAND OF STAFFA Natures greatest visitors book If a prize was to be given for the island which has generated the greatest number of words and photographs per square acre, Staffa, off the coast of Mull, and now owned by the National Trust for Scotland, would undoubtedly be the clear winner. From the time Staffa was brought to the notice of the public in 1772, countless visitors have flocked to its shores to gaze in amazement at the spectacular colonnaded entrance to Fingals Cave the inspiration of Felix Mendelsohns Hebrides Overture. Other luminaries have included, Sir Walter Scott, Sir Joseph Banks, John Keats, John Turner, William Wordsworth, Sir Robert Peel, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, to name only a few. Accounts of many of these early visits used to be held in the Inn on Ulva, which was the main point of embarkation from Mull, but unfortunately this interesting and valuable visitors book has been lost. Various boat hirers kept records over the years and there was once a visitors book on Staffa. Now, a hitherto unrecorded source has just been discovered on Staffa and actually inside its main attraction Fingals Cave. A cursory examination last weekend of the lower parts of the huge hexagonal basalt columns forming the sides of the cave, by Iain Thornber, a Scottish archaeologist and historian, has revealed hundreds of initials, names and contemporary graffiti going back to the early 1800s. Thought to be done by visiting sailors, geologists, workmen men and ships crews, this is an important discovery and when fully examined and recorded, will undoubtedly throw new light in this world famous site. More information and digital images available from Iain Thornber. ENDS