Fionnphort, Mull

Fionnphort, Mull

ID: QZP99_94157_10_02 DESCRIPTION: Thatched house near Fionnphort. A thatched roof was based on a wooden frame which rested on the cottage walls. Thatch was a cheap material with which to roof a house. It was also light and would not put unnecessary weight on the walls. An overlapping layer of heathery turf would be placed over the frame and a layer of thatch laid over that. The thatch would be secured with old fishing net or twine tied to large rocks to weigh it down. In most places it was normal to re-thatch the roof each year. The cottage in this photograph has a chimney but the smoked thatch from houses without chimneys made excellent fertiliser. Fionnphort (port of the white sands) is a township in the south-west of Mull. A passenger ferry sails from here across the Sound of Iona. Half a mile to the north is the Tor Mor Quarry which produced a distinctive red granite. This could be split into large blocks which were free from flaws and ideal for use in the construction of bridges, docks and harbour walls. There were many quarries in the Assapol-Fionnphort area until the early 20th century when competition from Peterhead and Aberdeen prompted their decline. This granite has been used in the construction of the Albert Memorial, Blackfriars Bridge and the Holburn Viaduct in London, Liverpool and New York docks, Jamaica Bridge in Glasgow, Manchester City Hall, and the Dhuteartach and Skerryvore lighthouses off Mull. Also near here is Eilean nam Ban (island of the women). It was to this island that St Columba banished the women from Iona This image comes from a collection gifted to Edinburgh Central Library by Dr Isabel F. Grant. The collection includes photographs taken by a number of different photographers. PLACENAME: Mull DISTRICT: Mull OLD COUNTY/PARISH: ARGYLL CREATOR (AV): I F Grant SOURCE: Edinburgh and Scottish Collection, Edinburgh Central Library COLLECTION: I F Grant Photographic Archive Asset ID: 38812 KEYWORDS: