Connemara Marble, Galway, Ireland: a Global Heritage Stone Resource proposal

Abstract

Connemara Marble, a well-known distinctive decorative stone from the west of Ireland, is herein proposed as a Global Heritage Stone Resource. Connemara Marble is a sillimanite-grade ophicarbonate, dominated by dolomite and calcite with varying proportions of serpentine, diopside, forsterite, tremolite clinochlore and phlogopite. The marble displays intricate corrugated layers that range in colour from white through sepias to various shades of green. These features impart unique characteristics that set the marble apart from other ornamental stones. Characteristics reflect amphibolite-grade metamorphism of an impure siliceous dolomitic limestone during the Grampian orogeny (475–463 Ma). Olivine, diopside, tremolite along with calcite and dolomite were formed during the peak of metamorphism which was followed by a later pervasive hydrothermal metamorphism that led to the extensive growth of serpentine after olivine and diopside. It has been used since Neolithic times, but has been quarried and fashioned in Connemara since the eighteenth century, and widely utilized in buildings in Ireland and the UK, for cladding, banisters, columns and church fittings. Later in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it was exported in large quantities to the USA for use in civic and educational buildings. Its many uses as an ornamental stone in the interiors of buildings and in Irish jewellery commands worldwide acclaim.