The Piddock Stone came from the beach at Ogmore-by-Sea in Glamorgan, Wales. The stone is Oolite, a soft limestone from the Lower Carboniferous era. The pitted surface is due to a combination of natural erosion and the action of young piddocks. Some of the larger piddock tunnels go all the way through the stone.
Piddocks (Pholadidae), also known as angelwings, are a family of bivalve molluscs similar to clams. However, Piddocks are unique in that each side of their shells is divided into 2 or 3 separate sections. Furthermore, one of the piddock's shells has a set of ridges or 'teeth', which they use to grind away at clay or soft rock in order to create create tubular burrows. The shape of these burrows are due to the rotating motion of the piddock as it grinds the rock to make its home. The piddock stays in the burrow it digs for the entirety of its eight-year lifespan, with only its siphon exposed to take in water that it filters for food. So called hagstones (see here) are often the result of Piddock activity.
The Iron Stone came from a blackhouse (taigh-dubh) village on the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Raasay Ironstone is rich in iron and very heavy and perfect for building houses that have to withstand extreme weather.
'Blackhouses' were low, single story buildings shared by humans and livestock. The design of a blackhouse originates back several thousand years, as does the constructional method. The building consists of two concentric dry stone walls with a gap between them filled with earth, peat or straw for insulation. The roof was either thatched or made up of turfs and constructed upon a wooden frame. As the roofing material had to withstand quite extreme weather conditions at times, it was often secured by using netting with large stones tied at the ends. Their design was eventually replaced in the late 1800s by 'Whitehouses' (taigh-geal), which were built to separate humans and animals.
Unbelievably, some of the blackhouses were still inhabited until the middle 1970’s. On Lewis, the best examples to view are at Gearrannan, where it is possible to see a range of houses all in one place. You can see some photos of them on my blogpost about visiting the Callanish stones here.
Both stones are interesting for different reasons but what fascinates me most is that, despite them being picked up hundreds of miles from each other, they fit together like jigsaw pieces. The resulting object is, to me, very attractive.
And that's why they got included in my list of 'curiosities'.
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