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Fingal’s Cave Entry at Staffa Island. Photo by Giacinto Chiosso.

Top 10 Facts About Fingal鈥檚 Cave on Staffa

Fingal鈥檚 Cave Staffa is found in an uninhabited Atlantic island of Hebrides, Scotland.

It  is a looming 69 meters tall over the ocean, with a large entry. It looks like an astounding work of geometry or a contemporary masterpiece displayed in the Museum of Modern Art .

Columns of basalt surmount a basement of tufa and form a rugged coast with numerous caves, among them are Clamshell Cave in the southeast and Fingal鈥檚 Cave in the inner Hebrides.

The cave derives it name from a 17th Century  fictional poem character known as Fingal, a giant, who is thought to have created the caves as a subway to enable him travel to a duel with his  archrival.

The  sea tides create a rhythmic  acoustic sound as they hit the walls and Its also home to  amazing marine life in Northern Scotland Coast line such as seals and seabirds.

Below are some of the most interesting facts about the cave

1.Located in an Uninhabited Atlantic island of Hebrides, Scotland

Fingal’s Cave is a sea cave on the uninhabited Atlantic Island of the Inner Hebrides, Scotland.

The Island is situated 10 kilometers off the island of Mull and 33 miles west of Oban. Columns of basalt surmount a basement of tufa, forming a rugged coast with numerous caves, among them Clamshell Cave in the southeast and Fingal鈥檚 Cave, a haunt of seals and seabirds.

2.It is Made of Basalt Columns Caused by Volcanic Activity

Fingal鈥檚 Cave is primarily made of basalt columns, caused by volcanic action, that are largely hexagonal prisms.

These hexagonal jointed basalt columns within are Paleocene lava flow.

It is similar in structure to both the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland and Ulva.

Cooling on the upper and lower surfaces of the solidified lava resulted in contraction and fracturing.

It started in a blocky tetragonal pattern and transitioning to a regular hexagonal fracture pattern with fractures perpendicular to the cooling surfaces.

As cooling continued these cracks gradually extended toward the Centre of the flow, forming the long hexagonal columns we see in the wave-eroded cross-section today.

3.Shares Geological Origins with the Giant鈥檚 Causeway of Northern Ireland

Giants Causeway Photo by Edwin Klein .

Fingal鈥檚 Cave has an arch shaped roof and gaping mouth, formed by the sea tide erosion caused by water. Water can be found in the cave.

The cave鈥檚 arched roof lends to its remarkable natural acoustics that harmoniously echo the sound of the swelling ocean waves within it.

Fingal鈥檚 Cave shares its geological origins with the Giant鈥檚 Causeway of Northern Ireland, to which it may have once been connected by the same massive lava flow.

Similar hexagonal fracture patterns are found in mud where contraction is due to loss of water instead of cooling.

The cave is said to be the inspiration for the Celtic legend of Fionn Mac Cumhail, who was a giant warrior.

He built Giant鈥檚 Causeway from Ireland to Scotland so that he could fight his enemy, the Scottish giant Benandonner.

4.The Cave was Rediscovered by Naturalist Sir Joseph Banks

A canvas Painting of Sir Joseph Banks. Photo By Sir Joshua Reynolds.

The cave was rediscovered when naturalist Sir Joseph Banks visited it in 1772

At the time of Banks’ discovery, Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem in Six Books was a very popular poetic series.

He translated from an ancient Gaelic epic by Irish poet James Macpherson.

5.Named after a Mythical  Giant Character, Fingal.

Fingal鈥檚 Cave鈥� was named after a heroic character, 鈥楩ingal鈥�, in a poem said to be translated by James Macpherson, a Scottish poet and historian in the 1700s.

It formed part of his Ossian cycle of poems claimed to have been based on old Scottish Gaelic poems.

The poem character was a reference to the Irish myth of a giant named Fionn mac Cumhaill Finn McCool.

Macpherson rendered the name Fingal as, white stranger, through a misapprehension of the name which in old Gaelic would appear as Finn.

The legend of the Giant’s Causeway has Finn or Fionn building the causeway between Ireland and Scotland.

6. Numerous Pieces of Art and Literature has Been Composed in Honor of its Beauty

 Fingal鈥檚 Cave has been mentioned or pictured in numerous art and literary pieces. The most famous is the overture that German composer Felix Mendelssohn wrote, titled The Hebrides, Fingal’s Cave Overture, after he visited the site in the late 1820s.

Others visitors including, Poets William Wordsworth, John Keats, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson mentioned it in their poems.

The playwright August Strindberg also set scenes from his play, A Dream Play, in a place called Fingal’s Grotto.

Pink Floyd wrote several songs about the site.

7. A Major Tourist Attraction Site in Staffa, Scotland

After being 鈥渞ediscovered鈥� in 1772 by naturalist Sir Joseph Banks, the cave became a tourist attraction site.

It had been visited by several famous tourists such as Queen Victoria as well as the poets William Wordsworth, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and John Keats, along with novelists Jules Verne and Sir Walter Scott.

 Painter J.M.W. Turner rendered it on canvas, and German composer Felix Mendelssohn found in it the inspiration for his overture.

Tourists can access Fingal鈥檚 Cave by boat, or by foot once on the island, although the cave is not suitable for boats to enter. During the tourist season, steamers from neighboring islands carry visitors to Staffa.

8. You can Walk to the Entrance but you Cannot get into the Cave

One can access Fingal鈥檚 Cave by boat, or by foot once on the island, although the cave is not suitable for boats to enter. The distance from the shore to the cave is about 1 kilometer long.

 Although the journey is not difficult, it does get steep at times. You can walk to the entrance, but you can’t get into the cave.

9. It is a Natural Habitat for Unique Birds and Marine Life

Visiting  Fingal鈥檚 Cave one may encounter several bird species  such hags and Cormorants, Guillemots, Razorbills, Black Guillemots, Shearwaters, Fulmars, Gannets, Ravens, Eiders, Turnstones, Arctic Terns and the Great Skua, or ‘Bonxie’.  and the rare Puffins  which are very popular with visitors to Staffa.

They usually arrive during the first few days of April and stay through May, June and July during which time they form pairs, mate and rear young.

It is also a home to a multitude of marine species that thrive in the clean water. These include seals, otters on the coast, porpoises and dolphins at sea.

10.Managed and Owned by The National Trust for Scotland.

The National Trust for Scotland, a Scottish conservation organization, owns the cave as part of a national nature reserve.

Fingal鈥檚 Cave is an area of land and water with Wildlife and contains habitats and species of national importance.