Portsoy Marble, Jacobites & Jewellery

Jacobites and Jewellery: 4 centuries of artistry from Portsoy Marble

For over 350 years, from Jacobite times to the present day, the rock known as Portsoy Marble, has featured in international trade, high-quality masonry, tourist trinketry, and scientific research. It has been represented at national and international exhibitions and recorded in numerous tourist guides and textbooks. Most notably, it is reputed for incorporation in the Palace of Versailles by Louis XIV. The lecture brings together the evidence from trade with France, church monuments, local newspaper stories and advertisements, scientific presentations, and modern sculpture to show how the use of this local stone has evolved in a changing society.

Note that the title image of the “Turra Coo” is beautifully sculpted in Portsoy marble.

John Parnell is Professor of Geology and Petroleum Geology at the University of Aberdeen, where he arrived in 1999. He works on sedimentary geochemistry, including projects about Mars and the Moon, but lately he has also worked on topics involving local history. At Portsoy, he combines historical work with lunar analogue studies.