Glasgow University researchers learn Blarney Stone origin
So the mythology surrounding the stone turned out to be a bunch of blarney. Once again science spoils a good fable.
The Scotsman
18 MARCH 2014
http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/heritage/glasgow-uni-researchers-learn-blarney-stone-origin-1-3343073
RESEARCHERS at the University of Glasgows Hunterian Museum have used a long-lost fragment of the Blarney Stone to reveal the true origin of the world-famous monument.
The stone, kissed by visitors to Blarney Castle in Cork in hope of bringing the gift of the gab, is a limestone that is around 330 million years old, according to the Hunterians curator Dr John Faithfull.
The discovery, based on a wafer-thin sheet taken from the stone in the mid-1800s, appears to debunk any link between the Blarney and the Stone of Destiny or Stonehenge.Dr Faithfull said: This (discovery) indicates that it has nothing to do with the Stonehenge bluestones, or the sandstone of the current Stone of Destiny, now in Edinburgh Castle.
Sample found by intern
The sample sat unnoticed among the Hunterians collection of 40,000 microscope slides, until it was found by an intern during the creation of a digital archive.... MORE