Knockan Crag National Nature Reserve

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Overview

At Knockan Crag NNR, you can unlock the mysteries of one of the oldest landscapes in Europe. The story of ancient oceans, vast deserts and ice sheets, crashing continents and an epic journey from pole to pole is told through poetry, sculpture and interactive exhibitions. Here you can see the internationally famous geological feature known as the Moine Thrust, where much older and darker schists have been pushed over the younger, lighter, Durness limestone, so the older rocks have ended up on top of the younger ones. The theory of this dramatic rock reversal was confirmed in 1882 by two brilliant geologists, Benjamin Peach and John Horne of the Scottish Geological Survey, who are commemorated in sculptures by Alan Herriot in the visitor centre. The alternating crags and glittering pools known as ‘cnoc and lochan’ expose some of the world’s oldest rocks, and peat bog and heather overlie seabed muds, an unimaginable billion years old.

Location

Elphin

About the area

Apart from the Orkneys and the Shetlands, Highland is Scotland’s northernmost county. Probably its most famous feature is the mysterious and evocative Loch Ness, allegedly home to an ancient monster that has embedded itself in the world’s modern mythology, and the region’s tourist industry.