Bristol Diamonds
Department of Earth Sciences’ Geology Museum
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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