Marble

The Marble Road

The underlying Durness limestone which produces such fertile grazing and runs from Knockan to Durness has been transformed into marble around Ledmore.  Molten magma superheated the limestone to 700 degrees Celsius causing its metamorphosis into marble.

As early as 1565 Laurence Nowell’s map identifies the “marmour hilles of Southerland”, however no serious attempt was made to exploit the resource until the arrival of Isaac Jopling in 1799. Jopling, a marble cutter from Gateshead, obtained a lease from the Sutherland Estate to exploit any marble to be found in Assynt. Not only did he open up a number of quarries mainly around Ledbeg but he constructed a road from Ledmore to the shore of Loch Glencoul below Unapool where he intended to ship out the cut stone. The remains of a large byre can still be seen near the quarries at Ledbeg: this was to house the oxen intended to draw the cart loads of marble to Unapool. The road can still be seen from above Unapool and at various places in the Inchnadamph area.

Jopling tried unsuccessfully to raise funds for sawing and polishing the marble but ultimately gave up the operation after seven years. Marble has again been quarried more recently at Ledmore, the last mainland source in the UK.