- Staffa is an uninhabited island located 6 miles (10 km) west of Mull in the Inner Hebrides. Staffa was named by the Vikings, and meant ‘pillar island’ in Old Norse.
- It differs from the other islands geologically, as it consists of vertical hexagonal Basalt columns underneath a mass of Paleocene Lava.
Fingal’s Cave
- Fingal’s Cave is a sea cave inside Staffa, the interior of which is lined by the vertical hexagonal Basalt columns. It has similar acoustics to that of a cathedral.
- In 1829 Felix Mendelssohn visited Staffa and Fingal’s Cave and was inspired to write an overture ‘The Hebrides’ Op. 26, which is also called the ‘Fingal’s Cave Overture’ or the ‘Hebridean Overture’.
- Jules Verne visited Fingal’s Cave and used it in his novels ‘The Green Ray’ written in 1882, and ‘Journey to the centre of the earth’ written in 1864.
- In 1832 J.M.W. Turner visited the island and painted ‘Staffa: Fingal’s Cave’.
- Queen Victoria also visited Staffa and Fingal’s Cave, as did the poets Keats, Tennyson, Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott.
Similar Geological Structures
- Ulva, another island nearby to Mull and Staffa, also has some similar Hexagonal Basalt columns.
- Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland consists of similar Hexagonal Basalt columns of varying heights.
- Drumadoon Point on the Isle of Arran.
- Studlagil Canyon in Iceland.
Staffa