Ever since we first walked the croft two years ago and and fell in love with it, we’ve been intrigued with the small, bare outcrop of stone that we have on the southern slope.
We’ve always wondered what it is. We are built mainly on shale, which appears all over the croft. But this isn’t like shale, which is a layered, crumbly rock.
It’s a very hard, smooth rock and with a slightly crystaline structure.
Local geology maps show that we are sited on an outcrop of Lewissian Gneiss, one of the world’s oldest rocks. But it doesn’t quite look like the stripy gneiss that I’ve seen elsewhere in images.
A helpful islander (thank you Julian!) who is also a geologist offered to come and have a closer look for us when he was in the area and confirm what it was. He explained it could be granite, or gneiss – it was difficult to identify from a picture.
He popped over a few days ago and we had a socially distanced chat. He’s confirmed that it’s definitely gneiss. I would have been happy with any diagnosis, but I really happy that it’s what we thought it was.
There’s something comforting in knowing that your land contains some of the oldest rock in the world.
As old as the beginnings. As old as the legends.
That’s just so cool somehow. 😎
Ravencroft Skye 
Nearly as old as us!!!!!
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Ha! 😊
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It is extremely cool!! That rock has seen the evolution of our species; who knows how many people have sat there and looked at the view since the dawn of our awareness. I wonder if it has been used as a way marker in the past? Being such an obviously different rock, it would stand out.
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I guess we’ll never know . Our croft is at the highest point on the hill and you can see for miles in all directions, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it had been used in some way.
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