According to William Camden’s Britannia (a topographical and historical survey of Great Britain and Ireland, first published in1586), the cliffs of Bristol’s Avon Gorge- and especially St Vincent’s Rock, were studded with diamonds which, were comparable to Indian diamonds in colour but inferior in hardness. In fact, the local “diamonds” were clear, naturally-faceted, crystals of quartz that are associated with iron ore veins in the Carboniferous Limestone, and with nodules and geodes in the Dolomitic Conglomerate.
- Item reference: BRSUG B2301
- Photographer: Simon Powell
- Copyright: Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol
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