Editing Staffa (section)

==History==
[[File:Fingal's Cave, Staffa (18thC).JPG|thumb|Engraving based on sketches made of Fingal's Cave by [[John Cleveley the Younger|John Cleveley Jnr.]] published in 1772<ref>Cleveley accompanied Thomas Pennant on his voyage to the Hebrides in 1772.</ref>]]

===18th century===
Little is known of the early history of Staffa, although the [[Switzerland|Swiss]] town of [[Stäfa]] on [[Lake Zurich]] was named after the island by a monk from nearby [[Iona]].<ref name=Smith/> Part of the [[Ulva]] estate of the [[Clan MacQuarrie|MacQuarries]] from an early date until 1777,<ref>Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 124</ref> it was brought to the English-speaking world's attention after a visit by Sir [[Joseph Banks]] in August 1772. ''En route'' to [[Iceland]] in the company of the painter [[Johann Zoffany]], the Bishop of [[Linköping]], and the Swedish naturalist [[Daniel Solander]], Banks (later a president of the [[Royal Society]]) was entertained by Maclean of Drummen, on the [[Isle of Mull]]. Hearing about Staffa he resolved to visit and set out from [[Tobermory, Mull|Tobermory]] the next day. The winds were light and they did not arrive until darkness had fallen.<ref>Bray (1996) pp. 89&ndash;90</ref><ref>Bray (1996) p. 89 suggests that Banks' companion was a Bishop of Iceland, but this seems unlikely as Cooper (1979) provides him with a name and a bishopric - see note below.</ref> Banks wrote:

<blockquote>
It was too dark to see anything, so we carried our tent and baggage near the only house on the island, and began to cook our suppers, in order to be prepared for the earliest dawn, and to enjoy that which, from the conversation of the gentlemen we had, now raised the highest expectations of.<ref>Pennant, Thomas (1772) ''A Tour of Scotland and a Voyage to the Hebrides''. London. Benjamin White. Quoted in Bray (1996) p. 90.</ref>
</blockquote>

They were not disappointed. Despite becoming infested with lice during his short stay on the island, he provided glowing reports of his visit.<ref name=Smith/> He confessed that he was:

<blockquote>
forced to acknowledge that this piece of architecture, formed by nature, far surpasses that of the [[Louvre]], that of [[St. Peter's Basilica|St. Peter]] at Rome, all that remains of [[Palmyra]] and [[Paestum]], and all that the genius, the taste and the luxury of the Greeks were capable of inventing.<ref name=Keay/><ref>However, Cooper (1979) p. 26 is unequivocal in stating that this "hyperbole" was penned by The Bishop of Linköping, Uno von Troil, who accompanied Banks.</ref>
</blockquote>

[[Samuel Johnson]] and his protege [[James Boswell]] visited [[clan MacQuarrie]] on Ulva in 1773, the year after Banks' visit. Perhaps aware that Banks considered that the columnar basalt cliff formations on Ulva called "The Castles" rivalled Staffa's<ref>MacNab, Peter (1993) ''Mull and Iona: Highways and Byways''. Edinburgh. Luath Press. pp. 72&ndash;73</ref> Johnson wrote:

<blockquote>
When the islanders were reproached with their ignorance or insensibility of the wonders of Staffa, they had not much to reply. They had indeed considered it little, because they had always seen it; and none but philosophers, nor they always, are struck with wonder otherwise than by novelty.<ref>Johnson, Samuel (1775) ''A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland''. London. Chapman & Dodd. (1924 edition).</ref>
</blockquote>
[[File:Scotia Depicta - Fingal's Cave -Plate-.jpg|thumb|right|Engraving of Fingal's Cave by [[James Fittler]] in Scotia Depicta, 1804]]
Amongst the first<ref>In fact Cooper (1979) p 16 states that Faujus was the first such person to be attracted to the Hebrides, but then later (p 26) refers to a prior visit by Uno von Troil in the company of Banks. Perhaps he did not consider Swedish bishops to be sufficiently important to merit this accolade.</ref> eminent overseas visitors to Staffa were [[Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond]], a wealthy French zoologist and mineralogist and the American architect and naturalist [[William Thornton]]. Visiting in 1784, they were suitably impressed, Faujus writing: "this superb monument of nature, which in regard to its form bears so strong a resemblance to a work of art, though art can certainly claim no share in it."<ref>Faujus de Saint Frond, B. ''A Journey through England and Wales to the Hebrides in 1784'', edited by Sir Archibald Geikie (1907) and quoted in Cooper (1979) p. 17.</ref>

===19th and 20th centuries===
Subsequently, a stream of famous visitors came to view Staffa's wonders including [[Robert Adam]], [[Sir Walter Scott]] (1810), [[John Keats]] (1818), [[J. M. W. Turner]], whose 1830 visit yielded an oil painting exhibited in 1832, [[William Wordsworth]] (1833), [[Jules Verne]] (1839), [[Alice Liddell]] (the inspiration for [[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland|Alice in Wonderland]]) in 1878, [[David Livingstone]] (1864), [[Robert Louis Stevenson]] (1870) and Mendelssohn himself in 1829.<ref name=Keay/><ref>Cooper (1979) pp. 52&ndash;54</ref> Wordsworth, however, found the volume of tourism disappointing.
[[File:Boat Cave.JPG|thumb|upright=1.25|Boat Cave]]
{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right
|quote=We saw, but surely in the motley crowd
:Not one of us has felt, the far-famed sight:
:How could we feel it? Each the others blight,
:Hurried and hurrying volatile and loud.
|source= [[William Wordsworth]], Cave of Staffa. Poems Composed or Suggested During a Tour in the Summer of 1833. No 28.<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww832.html "Poems Composed or Suggested During A Tour In The Summer Of 1833 XXVIII. Cave Of Staffa"] Bartleby.com. Retrieved 3 May 2007.</ref>}}
Writing more than a century later the writer [[W. H. Murray]] agreed, complaining that the visitors spoiled the "character and atmosphere", and suggesting that "to know Staffa one must go alone".<ref>Murray, W.H. (1966) ''The Hebrides''. London. Heinemann. p. 109</ref>

Others were more enthusiastic, despite the presence of numerous others. [[Queen Victoria]] and [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]] were rowed into the cave in the royal barge in 1847,<ref>Cooper (1979) p. 100</ref><ref>Keay & Keay (1994) state 1836, which is unlikely.</ref> and ''The Times'' correspondent recorded:
{{Blockquote|
As the Royal Squadron cleared out of the Sound of Mull, and round the northern extremity of the island, a noble prospect lay before it, the steep and barren headlands of [[Ardnamurchan]] stretching away into the Atlantic on the right, on the left the precipitous cliffs of the Mull coast, and far away and embosomed in the ocean, the fantastic and varied forms of the adjacent islands. The horizon toward the north was a good deal obscured by haze, but, notwithstanding, [[Skye]] was distinctly visible... The deserted and solitary aspect of the island was brought out with a strange and startling effect by the presence of so many steamers; and as Her Majesty's barge with the Royal Standard floated into the cave, the crew dipping their oars with the greatest precision, nothing could be more animated and grand than the appearance which the vast basaltic entrance, so solemn in its proportions, presented.<ref>''The Times'' correspondent writing in the ''Illustrated London News'' (1847), quoted in Bray (1996) p. 244</ref>
}}

[[File:Scotland-Staffa-Fingals-Cave-1900.jpg|thumb|left|Fingal's Cave around 1900]]
Keats complained about the expense of the ferry, but was captivated by what he saw nonetheless. Displeased with his first efforts to describe this "cathedral of the sea" he finally settled on:
{{Blockquote|
Not Aladdin magian/Ever such a work began, Not the wizard of the Dee, Ever such a dream could see; Not St John, in Patmos Isle, In the passion of his toil, When he saw the churches seven, Golden Aisl'd, built up in heaven, Gazed at such a rugged wonder.
--[[John Keats]], Staffa<ref>Cooper (1979) p. 53</ref><ref>Bray (1996) p. 88, suggests that both Keats's and Wordsworth's attempts are "rather poor verse".</ref>}}

===Tenants and owners===
[[File:Staffa beside 14624.JPG|thumb|Basalt columns on Am Buchaille]]
However inspiring the scenery, it was not an easy place in which to live. In 1772 there was only a single family, living on a diet of barley, oats, and potatoes, and whatever their grazing animals could provide, and growing flax.<ref name=Smith/> By the end of the 18th century they had deserted Staffa, apparently terrified by the severity of winter storms.<ref name= Keay/> Signs of "[[Ridge and furrow|rig and furrow]]" agriculture can still be seen on the island but the only surviving building is the ruin of a 19th-century shelter for travellers.<ref name=snh>[http://www.snh.org.uk/publications/on-line/designatedareas/nnrs/staffa/staffa.asp "Staffa"] Scottish Natural Heritage. Retrieved 10 December 2006.</ref>

By 1800 the island was under the ownership of Colin MacDonald of [[Lochboisdale]]. In 1816 his son Ranald MacDonald sold Staffa into the care of [[Land trust|trustees]]. In 1821 these trustees sold the island to Alexander Forman as trustee, the purchase money being paid by his brother John Forman [[Writer to the Signet|WS]]. It remained in the Forman family until sold by Bernard Gilpin Vincent "Pat" Forman in 1968. There were several private owners after that, including Alastair de Watteville, a descendant of Colin MacDonald<ref name=Smith/> who wrote a book about the island,<ref>de Watteville, Alastair (1993) ''The Island of Staffa: Its Astonishing Rock Formations Include World-renowned Fingal's Cave''. Romsey Fine Art.</ref> until finally Jock Elliott Jr. of New York gifted it to the National Trust for Scotland in 1986 to honour the 60th birthday of his wife, Eleanor. A grateful National Trust bestowed upon her the honorific "Steward of Staffa".<ref>Obituaries: Eleanor Elliott (8 December 2006) ''The Scotsman'' newspaper. Edinburgh.</ref> In a 2005 [[Opinion poll|poll]] of ''[[Radio Times]]'' readers, Staffa was named as the eighth-greatest natural wonder in Britain.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/4735935.stm Report of poll result] BBC.co.uk Retrieved 10 December 2006.</ref>

During the 20th century there were issues of [[Philatelic fakes and forgeries|bogus postage stamps]] bearing Staffa's name.<ref>[http://www.iswsc.org/iswsc_identbogus.html#S "Bogus Issues"] International Society of Worldwide Stamp Collectors. Retrieved 14 April 2007.</ref>