Key Information
Counties:
North AyrshireYear of Inscription:
2025Link to Website:
www.arran-geopark.org.uk
Arran
Arran is an island off the southwest coast of Scotland, just a couple of hours from Glasgow, and only accessible by boat. Arran has scenery that will blow your socks off, wildlife and nature that rival anywhere else in Scotland, world famous produce, and lots of space to really embrace island life. Surrounded by water, nature, beautiful landscapes, and friendly faces; visitors can get lost in the island’s unique character and be inspired by its sights and experiences.
The Isle of Arran is known as ‘Scotland in Miniature’, sitting astride a major fault that once divided continents; it showcases many events in Scotland’s geological history. The island’s rocks record an epic journey from south of the equator over 600 million years.
Described by the Geological Society as “one of the best locations for fieldwork in Europe”, the island is enormously important to the history of geological science. It is home to James Hutton’s first unconformity where the father of modern geology changed human understanding of the age of our planet.
Arran’s youngest rocks record the opening of the Atlantic Ocean and these account for around half of the Geopark’s land area. The island’s mountains and coastline provide textbook glacial features. As the last ice sheets retreated, the presence of man is evident on Arran from around 6,000 years ago.
Arran is home to spectacular standing stones, distinctive artefacts made of Pitchstone, and a significant concentration of megalithic tombs. Considered with recent discoveries, Arran and its archaeological landscape has importance alongside the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Heart of Neolithic Orkney and
Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites.
Arran’s extraordinary geodiversity is of course the driver for its unique biotic and cultural heritage.
