Church Cave

Giants Cave


Useful Information

Location: On Rona Island, Scotland. On the East Coast almost directly across the Island from Acairseid Mhor.
(57.546921, -5.966375)
Open: No restrictions.
[2021]
Fee: free.
[2021]
Classification: Speleologysea cave
Light: bring torch
Dimension:  
Guided tours: self guided
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography:  
Address:  
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
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History

1878 Island Church built, end of regular worship in this cave.
1970 last service held in the cave.
01-MAY-2003 stamps issued with a picture of the cave.
04-OCT-2010 cave used for wedding.

Description

The entrance of Church Cave or Giants Cave is like a large Gothic arch. It was used by the Islanders as a church with regular worships, hence the name. There is a low stone pillar which was used as a pulpit. Beside it is a hole in the stone fed by drips of water from the cave roof which served as a font. Rows of stones were used as pews by the congregation.

When the Island Church was built in 1878 regular worships ended. But it was still the custom to have babies baptised in the cave. The last service was held in the cave in 1970. It is not known if the islanders had weddings in the cave, but on 04-OCT-2010 Jaclyn Harbot and Andy Taylor, from Westhoughton, near Bolton were married in the cave.

In 2003 Rona issued four labels and a first day cover with local sights, one of them was this cave. Labels are similar to stamps, but they are not postage stamps. The one depicting Church Cave has a value of GBP 0.75.

Rona and the northern tip of Raasay are composed of gneisses of the Lewisian Complex. This metamorphic rocks are not soluble, so there are no solution or karst caves. Church Cave is a sea cave, which was formed by the waves. The erosion of the sea water was probably higher here because of fractures in the rock produced by tectonic forces.