HOUt$fON-fe$ON&

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Bought with the income
of the
EDWARD WELLS SOUTHWORTH
FUND

IONA

ITS HISTORY, ANTIQUITIES, ETC,

BY THE
REV. ARCHIBALD MACMILLAN,
///
MINISTER OF IONA.

ITS CARVED STONES,
BY
ROBERT BRYDALL, F. S.A.Scot.,
st. George's art school, Glasgow.

LONDON :
HOULSTON & SONS, PATERNOSTER SQUARE.
EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW:
JOHN MENZIES & CO.
1898.

GLASGOW :
CARTER S- PRATT.
PRINTERS.

The following notes are chiefly intended for visitors to
the island, and are meant to supply what has often been
enquired for, namely — a concise and reliable history and
description of the ruins, with drawings and descriptions
of a selection of the carved stones. The material is so
arranged that, while giving a condensed history of the
place, it will also serve the purpose of an ordinary hand
book, rendering the personal attendance of a guide
unnecessary.

INTRODUCTION.

ADAMNAN tells us that on the last day of his life
Columba ascended the little hill overlooking his monastery
and blessed it saying, " Unto this place, small and mean
though it be, great homage shall yet be paid, not only by
the Kings and people of the Scots, but by the rulers of
barbarous and distant nations, with their people also."
Had a larger vision been vouchsafed to the exile of Erin
in his Patmos of the West, his modest prophecy might
have been uttered in the words of "him who saw the
Apocalypse," " And I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away."
A survey, however short, of the mighty revolutions that
have from time to time renewed and transformed the face
of the earth, during the many centuries that separate us
from Columba's day, is altogether outside the scope of an
ordinary guide-book. To indicate briefly the outstanding
features in Columba's life, and arrange in an intelligible
form the several landmarks that, at long intervals,
divide his age from our's is all that can be attempted.
St. Columba was born on the 7th December, 521, at
Gartan, Donegal. His father, Felim MacFergus, was
the great-grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, and
related to the Royal families of Ireland and British
Dalriada. His mother, Eithne, was also of royal descent.
His, education was intrusted to an aged presbyter
named Cruithnechan, who dwelt near the home of

2 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
Columba, at a place called Temple-Douglas, between
Gartan and Letterkeny. The ruins of a Chapel are still
to be seen at this place. Here the son of Felim was
baptized Colum, a dove, by his foster parent, Cruithnechan.
The word Celle was early affixed to his baptismal name.
The story told in the Leathar Breac is that the children of
the hamlet used to say among themselves " has our little
Colum come to-day from the cell." In this way. he
received the name of Columcelle, Colum of the Church,
or the dove of the Church, now Columba.
When the years of his fosterage under Cruithnechan
were ended, he was placed under the care of Finnian or
Finbarr, who was the head of a school at Moville. Here
he remained for some time and was ordained deacon.
From Moville he proceeded to Leinster where he
studied the literature of his native land under Gemman
the venerable bard of that province. The incident related
by Adamnan occurred during Columba's sojourn at
Leinster.1 .
One. day when Columba and Gemman were reading
together in the fields, a young girl in danger of her life
flew towards them for protection. Their united efforts
were unable to save her from the savage who sought her
life, who murdered her before their eyes. The aged bard,
in . great grief, turning to Columba said, " How long, oh,
how long will God, the true Judge, allow this horrid crime,
and this insult, to us to go unpunished ? " When Columba
replied, " At the very instant the soul of the girl whom he
hath murdered ascendeth into Heaven, shall the soul of
the murderer go down into hell." No sooner had the
words been spoken than the murderer fell at their feet
dead. . From the care of Gemman, Columba passed on to the
famous school of Finnian at Clonrad, from thence to the
monastic school of St. Mobhi at Glasnaoidhen, near
(i) Adam., Book I., Chap. 30, 32.

BOOKS OF DURRQW AND KELLS. 3
Dublin. After the death of Mobhi, he founded the Church
-of Deny in 546, and in 553 the Monastery of Durrow,
called by Adamnan Dairh'ag, Oakfield.
The valuable relic called the Book of Durrow is
-thought by some to reach back to near this time. The
inscription on the shrine of this book associates it with the
name of Columba as early as the end , of the ninth
¦century. Dr. Reeves says that " it approaches, if it does not
reach, the age of St. Columba." Dr. Petrie is more pro
nounced in his opinion. "Whatever doubt may be felt as
to the exact age of the Book of Kells, no doubt whatever
can be entertained as to the age of the Book of Durrow,
the writing of which is ascribed to St, Columba." This
beautiful MS., now preserved in Trinity College, Dublin,
is a copy of the Gospels, written on vellum, in the
vernacular of the time,. The ornamentation on the pages
preceding . each of the Gospels is the early Celtic trumpet
and diagonal pattern, blended with the interlaced hands,
•etc., of a later style. A sculptured cross called St.
Columkille's Cross, of the same type as St. Martin's, lona,
rstands in the Churchyard of Durrow.
Next to Durrow, Kells was the most famous of St.
Columba's Irish Monasteries. In the beginning of the
ninth century Cellach, Abbot of lona, founded a new
•church at Kells, which afterwards became the chief
monastery of his order.
Like Durrow, Kells has given its name to an ancient
illuminated MS. of the four Gospels. The Book of Kells,
-called in the annals of the Four Masters the Great Gospel
•of Columcille, is now in Trinity College, Dublin.
Authorities differ as to its date.
Miss Stokes, for reasons that cannot be discussed here,
remarks, " the belief that the' Book of Kells was the work
of Columba himself cannot be sustained."
Whatever date is assigned to this beautiful relic- of

4 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
Celtic art, "it is," says Professor Westwood, "the most
elaborately executed MS. of early art now in existence."
In the Churchyard at Kejls there are three sculptured.
crosses. One of eleven panels dedicated to Patrick ancL
Columba. A number of other churches were founded by Columba.
in Ireland between 544 and 562.
O'Donnell, in his collection of facts and fictions which
he has woven into a life of the Saint, connects his departure
from Ireland with the battle of Cuildremhue, fought in 56.1.
His story is that Columba transcribed for his own use a
MS. of the Book of Psalms, belonging to his old master,.
Finnian of Moville. The owner of the MS. demanded the
copy. The demand was refused and Finnian appealed to
Diarmaid, Chief of the Southern Hy Neill, King of
Ireland, to pronounce judgment. The king's judgment
in this cas'e of copyright was given in the following'
sentence. Le gach bo a boinenn agus le gach leabJiar a leabhran —
to every cow , belongs her calf, and to every book its
copy. Columba was so enraged at this decision that he incited.
the Northern Hy Neill to avenge in battle the insult offered
to their kinsman. Diarmaid was defeated, and Columba was-
charged before a great assembly convened for the purpose
with being the cause of so much slaughter. This assembly
decided that he must convert from paganism as many
souls as he had caused to be slain. Laisren of Inishmury
was appointed to prescribe the mode in which the sentence
of the court was to be carried out. Laisren pronounced
sentence of perpetual exile.
Little reliance may be placed on O'Donnell's narrative-
in this particular. The old Celtic church was essentially a
missionary church. Its members did not regard their work
among the heathen as either penance or punishments
The existence of this legend seems to indicate that the.

CAUSE OF COLUMBA LEAVING IRELAND. 5
-enthusiasm for mission work had considerably cooled down
in O'Donnell's day.
Columba's exile was not perpetual. Adamnan tells us
that he visited Ireland on ten different occasions. There
is no reference, direct or indirect, to show that Columba
was breaking any law, or running any risk in visiting his
native land..
Like the Apostle of the Gentiles during his first
imprisonment at Rome, he kept himself in touch with all
the churches he had founded, and visited them from time
to time. We find him at Meath, Tipperary, and Rathlin,1
The real cause of his departure' from Ireland was, no
doubt, that recorded by his biographer, "St. Columba,
resolving to seek a foreign country for the love of Christ,
sailed from Scotia to Britain." 2
In 563 St. Columba left Ireland in his boat of hides,
accompanied by twelve followers. After visiting his
relative, Conal, King of the Dalriadic Scots, who had some
years before migrated from Ireland to Kintyre, he sailed
for the little island that has been called by his name for
thirteen hundred years, and landed at Port-a-Curach— Port
-of the Curach — on the 1 2th May, in the 42nd year of his
age. There is a tradition that he first landed at Oronsay, but
•on discovering that his fatherland was still in sight he
could not remain ; there is a cairn called Cam cul-ri Eirin
«(the hill of turning the back to Ireland) on the top of the
hill overlooking the ruins of Oronsay Priory.
A small cairn on the top of the highest hill west of
Port-a-Curach, also called Cam cul-ri Eirin, is said to
mark the spot from which Columba scanned the southern
horizon when he first landed on lona. Satisfied that the
green hills of Erin were no longer in sight, he buried his
curach near the beach where its keel first touched the
(1) Adam., Book II., Chap. 42, etc.
(2) Adam., Second Preface.

6 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
Shore, and took peaceful possession of the land that has-
since that day really been his own.
It requires some effort of the imagination to recon
struct the epoch to which Columba's mission takes us back.
Although the trumpet of the Goth had sounded within
the walls of Rome more than a hundred years before his-
birth, the Empire was still standing.
Justinian was Emperor, aud -Belisarius, the first great
Christian warrior, commanded the small army that
guarded the mother city of the Pagan world. The:
memorials of the old heathen worship and cruelty were
still standing. The Temple of Jupiter, plundered of its.
treasure, but entire, looked down from the heights of the-
Capitol on the Flavian Amphitheatre where men still
fought with wild beasts.
All Europe was in a state of mighty upheaval and
unrest. The rudiments of what are how the great
nations of the earth were not then discernible. The
" strong wild man " who gave his name to the creed of
200,000,000 beings was not yet born, Columba had
reached the age of threescore and ten years before Gregory
was elected Pope. Looking nearer home, we find what is
now called Scotland divided into several small principalities-
of Scots, Northern and Southern Picts, Britons of Strath-
clyde, Picts of Galloway, eto. The territory of the Britons-
of Strathclyde extended from Dumbarton to an undefined
boundary beyond the Solway Frith. The Grampians,.
extending from Argyle on the west to Kincardine on the
east, divided, the Northern from the Southern Picts.
In the interval between the death of St. Patrick in 458
and the coming of St. Columba in 563 a colony of Scots-
from Dalriada, In Ulster, landed in Kintyre, and gradually
extended the boundaries of their original possessions as far
as the Island of Mull. If the old chronicles are to be
trusted, the three sons of Ere, King of the Dalriadic Scots,.
were buried in lona.

THE SCOTS OF ARGYLE; 7
The Scots of Argyle were a Christian people, and if
lona was included in their possession, as it seems, to have
been, the first rays of early light must have whitened its
shores before the dawn of Columba's day. Traces of an
earlier settlement than his are to be found in the Litany of
Angus the Culdee. He speaks of the "seven Bishops of Hii"
and the " seven bishops of the church of Ta." Oran of
Latteragh, in Tipperary, of the same race as the Christian
¦Scots of Argyle, gave his name to the sepulchre of the
¦kings buried in lona, Reilig Oran — to the old churchyard
in the island of Colonsay — and to a district in the North
west of Mull, Tiroran, the land of Oran. He died fifteen
years before Columba came to Scotland.
The Southern Picts and the Britons of Strathclyde, had
lapsed sadly since the days of Ninian and Patrick. The
Northern Picts, who possessed the whole of Scotland north
of the Grampians, were uncivilised heathens.
There is some reason for believing that this nation had,
to some extent, been the cause of Columba's departure from
Ireland. In 560, Brude, King of the Northern Picts
defeated in battle the Scots of Argyle. The King of
Dalriada was slain. The defeat of his Christian country
men, at the hands of a pagan nation, and the death of his
kinsman, the King of Scots, may have influenced Columba
in selecting North Pictland as his first mission field. If he
could convert this powerful and turbulent nation to
Christianity, a better feeling would arise between them and
their neighbours ; their wars would cease, and those with
whom he naturally sympathised in the day of their distress
would be allowed to possess their land in peace.
He had resolved, we are told, to seek a foreign land for
.the love of Christ, and these circumstances may have induced
him to fix his heart on the conversion of the pagan nation
that threatened the extinction of the only. Christian colony
in Albyn. A -prophecy in the chronicle of the Picts_.and Scots gives

8 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
the defeat of the Dalriada as a cause of his leaving
Ireland. In any case the world was all before him, "where
to choose," and his choice fell on North Pictland, then
as now, the wildest and most inaccessible part of
Scotland. Before entering on active missionary work, Columba's
first care would be to erect the buildings common to the
monastic system of the time, and make the necessary pro
vision for the protection and sustenance of the new estab
lishment. The monastic buildings erected by Columba in lona
would naturally have the same arrangement and design as
those with which he had been familiar in Ireland. From
Adamnan's references we learn that in his time the
monastery consisted of a church with sacristy adjoining, a
refectory, and near it the kitchen. The huts of the brethren
were separate from each other and arranged round a green
or court. The abbot's hut, built of joists, stood by itself at
a little distance from the rest. Strangers had a lodging set
apart for themselves.
The buildings were " small and mean,"1 a mere collec
tion of mud and wattle-huts. The space which they occupied
was enclosed by a rath or vallum, i.e., a broad rampart
of earth and stones, defended on the outside by a ditch or
trench. Near the rath, but outside, was the cowhouse,
barn, kiln. Adamnan says nothing about a mill, but he
mentions the -grinding of corn.2 The pasture land was on
the east side of the island, the arable on the west. The
community had a fleet of boats large and small. Some
were planked, others were made of skin fastened to ribs of
wood. Each of the brethren had his own special work,
and all were subject to the abbot. When all was finished,
Columba was ready to deliver his message to the heathen.
(i) Adam., Bk. III., Chap. 24.
(2) Bk. I., Chap. 22.

WORK AMONG THE PICTS — ADIAN. g
One indication of what that message was may be
gathered from an incident related by Adamnan. " At the
time when St. Columba was tarrying for some days in the
province of the Picts ; a certain peasant, who, with his
whole family, had listened to, and learned through an
interpreter, the word of life preached by the holy man,
believed and was baptised — the husband together with his
wife, children and domestics."
A few days afterwards one of the sons of the family
was suddenly taken ill and died. " Columba entered by
himself into the house of mourning, when falling on his
knees, he prayed to Christ our Lord, having his face
bedewed with copious tears. Then rising from his kneeling
posture he turned his eyes towards the deceased and said
¦* In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ arise and stand upon
thy feet' At the sound of this glorious word from the
saint, the soul returned to the body and the person that
was dead opened his eyes and revived." *
How long Columba was in lona before entering on
active missionary work, in his own immediate neighbour
hood, is not accurately known. Two years after his arrival,
accompanied by his old companions, Comgall and Cainnich,
he set out for the residence af the Pictish king, near the
town of Inverness. King Brude at first refused to admit
the missionaries within his gates, but ultimately the bolts
and bars yielded to the prayers of Columba, and the King
himself became the first convert of his nation.
Columba laboured for a number of years among the
Picts who, before he left them, had all been converted to
Christianity. During the last year of his sojourn in Pict
land, Conall, king of Dalriada died. Adian, son of Gabran,
who was slain in battle, by Brude, in 560, was selected by
Columba to succeed his cousin Conall.
In 574, Columba crowned Adian, king of Scots. The
(1) Adam., Bk. II., Chap. 23.

IO IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
ceremony took place in lona, and tradition says that the
" stone of destiny " on which Adian satj forms part of the
coronation chair on which the kings of England and
Scotland are crowned. If that is so Queen Victoria and
Adian were crowned on the same chair. Adian was the:
.first of that long line of Scottish kings who gave England
James the I. and Scotland James the VI. This sovereign,
by hereditary right, succeeded to the throne of both.
kingdoms. Her Majesty's rights, as Queen of Scotland, are
derived from the old Celtic Scottish kings, of whose race
Columba was, and whose blood still rules the land. He was
the founder of the Scottish church. From his hands the
Scottish nation received its first king.
It is an interesting fact that when the representatives-
of the National Church assembled in lona, on the 9th of June,.
1897, to commemorate the thirteen hundredth anniversary
of Columba's death, British subjects all over the world were
preparing to celebrate the long and glorious reign of Adian 's
successor. By the conversion of the Northern Picts, and the recog
nition of Adian as an independent king by the Dalriada of
Ireland, at the Convention of Drumceatt, in 575, Columba
had succeeded in accomplishing part of the work on which,
he set his heart.
Scottish Dalriada was now free to shape her own
destiny ; the Picts were converted, and not likely, in his
day, to carry on war against their neighbours. From the-
few details supplied by his biographer, Columba seems at
some time or other to have traversed all the country North.
of the Forth and Clyde. When North and South Pictland
became united under one king, he extended his operations-
towards the South. All the places he visited and churches-
he founded are too numerous to mention here.
He is said to have visited Buchan, Aberlour, Deer,.
Abernethy, the mainland of Argyle, and some of the islands-
near at hand. Adamnan tells us he visited Eilean Na.

LAST YEARS OF COLUMBA'S LIFE. II
Naomh, an island of the Garveloch group, between Mull
and Lome. There he was directed in a vision to crown
Adian king. During his life time his disciples founded
churches in Lismore, Lome, Morven, Mull, Bute, Egg, and
many others in the islands and on the mainland. Plow
long before his death Columba ceased his journeyings by-
land and sea is difficult to tell. Constant exposure to all
weathers in a climate proverbial for " vapours, clouds, and
storms ; " long, weary journeys through a wild country that
could only be traversed on foot, "in perils of waters, in
perils of robbers, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the
wilderness, in perils in the sea, in weariness and painfulness,.
in watch ings, often in hunger and thirst, in fastings, often
in cold and nakedness, besides those things which are with
out the care of all the churches." * - These hardships and
anxieties of life fall to the lot of the pioneer in all ages.
The body is worn out long before the mental vision has
grown dim. This seems to have happened in St. Columba's-
case From the accounts that have come down to us-
he was evidently a tall, strong-boned, active Celt, whose
length of days, in ordinary circumstances, would not be
"labour and sorrow," even at eighty. In the island where
he lived and died the present generation of men, now
passing away, are not worn out at eighty. Even at ninty
they are not frail. Columba had borne the burden and heat
of the day. He felt his frailty before he knew " the end
and measure of his days." " On this very day, thirty years
of my sojourn in Britain have been completed, and mean
while, for many days past, I have been devoutly asking of
my Lord to release me from my dwelling here at the end
of this thirtieth year and call me thither to my heavenly
fatherland."2 * . . "Though it is against this ardent
wish four years from this day are added for me to abide in
the flesh." ^ In the month of May, when the four years
(1)2 Corinth, xi. 26.
(2), (3) Adam., Bk. III., Chap. 23.

12 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
-were nearly ended, he was too feeble to walk the short
-distance between his monastery and the field where the
brethren were at work. " The old man, worn out with age,
-went in a cart, one day, in the month of May ... to
visit some of the brethren who were at work." I A short
time afterwards he took his last leave of the old familiar
places. He first visited the barn and blessed the small
¦store of last year's grain. Returning to his monastery
he rested half way at a place where a cross, which
was afterwards erected, and is standing to this day,
iixed in a mill stone, may be observed on the roadside.2
He then ascended the " 'little hill" overlooking his
monastery, and, lifting up his hands, blessed it. Saying,
'"Small and mean though this place is, yet it shall be held
in great and unusual honour, not only by Scotic kings and
people, but also by the rulers of foreign and barbarous
nations and by their subjects ; thy saints, also of other-
churches, shall regard it with no common reverence." 3
Returning to his hut; he resumed his work on the psalter,
but when he had transcribed as far as verse ten of psalm
xxxiv., " They that seek the Lord shall not want any good
thing," he said to his servant Diarmaid, " here at the foot of
this page I must stop, let Baithen finish the rest." Resting
on his bed he gave Diarmaid his last message to the
brethren. When the midnight bell tolled " he arose hastily
and went to the church." Diarmaid followed, and " cried out
in a mournful voice, ' Where art thou father ? ' " There was
no answer. " Feeling his way in the darkness he found the
:saint lying before the altar." By this time the brethren had
assembled with their lights, and before the sun rose above
the mountains of Drumalbann on the 9th June, 597,
•Colum of the church was dead. When the days of their
mourning were ended the brethren buried him according
to the simple manner of the time, " and no man knoweth of
his sepulchre unto -this day."
(1), (2), (3) Adam., Bk. III., Chap. 24.

COLUMBA'S SUCCESSORS — PRINCIPAL EVENTS. I J.
As Columba himself had appointed his successor, there
could be no contention.
Baithene, one of the twelve who accompanied him to
lona, accordingly became second abbot of Hy. He was
first cousin to the Saint, and, during the life time of
Columba, presided over the monastery in the island of
Tiree. He died on the 9th June, two years after his master
had passed away.
Laisren the son of Feradach, of the tribe of Columba,.
succeeded him. He was head of the Monastery of Durrow
at Columba's death. He died in 605.
Ferna-Bret, called by Adamnan Virgnons, now became
abbot. He was evidently educated in lona, and was a young
man in the days of Columba.1 Ferna-Bret died in 623, and
Segine, nephew of the third abbot, ruled in his stead.
During the time of his abbacy, Oswald, second son of
Aidilfrid, king of Northumbria, recovered from the heathen
the kingdom lost during his father's reign. In his youth-
Oswald had visited lona, and as Bede tells us, " received
part of his education there." "When in. banishment re
ceived the sacraments of baptism among the seniors of the
Scots." 2 On regaining his kingdom, Oswald's first care-
was the re-establishment of the Christian Church, that had
been destroyed by the heathen. To aid him in this work
he asked the " Seniors of the Scots " to send him a bishop,.
" by whose instruction and ministry the Anglic nations
which he governed might be taught the advantages of faith-
in the Lord, and receive its sacraments. 3 The " Seniors "
granted Oswald's request, and sent Aidan from lona, who,
after the manner of his tribe and nation, built his church
on the island of Lindisfarne, near the coast of Northumbrian
and thus established among the heathen Anglics the Celtic
Christianity of Columba. (1) Adam., Bk. III., Chap. 20.
(2) Bede, H.E., Bk. III., Chap. 4.
(3) . ft >* )*¦ 11 5'

14 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
Great numbers of Scotch missionaries followed their
•countryman to his new home. They preached, baptized,
built churches, instructed the young, and brought in this
-way the " benefits of knowledge," and the " blessings
of religion " to the savage clans and roving barbarians
who dwelt in heathen Northumbria. * " Not Augustine
but Aidan," says Bishop Lightfoot, " was the true apostle
¦of England." Montalembert in his work, " The monks of
the West," says : " From the cloisters of Lindisfarne,
Northumbrian Christianity spread over the southern king
dom . . . the influence of the Celtic missionaries
reaching districts which their (Roman) predecessor had
-never been able to enter. After Aidan's death Finan from
lona was appointed his successor.
Suibhne, son of Currtu, was abbot for five years. Died
in 657. Cuimine Ailbhi, surnamed Fionn or Albics the fair,
-was seventh abbot. He wrote a book on the virtues of
Columba, which Adamnan has incorporated with his own
life of the Saint. He died in 669, seventy-two years after
the death of Columba, and was succeeded by
Failbhe, son of Pipan.
The principal event during his tenure of the abbacy
was the extension of the Church along the west coast of
Rosshire and Argyle.
Adamnan, ninth abbot of lona, whose name is insepar
ably bound up with that of Columba, was born in 624 —
twenty-seven years after the death of his patron. His
father, Ronan, was related to Columba and the royal rulers
of Ireland. The controversy between the Roman and the
•Celtic Church regarding the proper time for observing
Easter, which commenced in the time of Laisren the third
abbot, was renewed by Adamnan.. He visited Northum
bria twenty-four years after the Synod of Whitby had
renounced the custom" of the church which Ajdan had
(1) Bede, H.E., Bk. III., Chap. 3.

THE SCHISM OF ADAMNAN. 1 5
founded there, and decided to follow the Roman mode of
observing Easter. During his stay in the country of the
Angles, Bede tells us that Adamnan was " admonished by
many who were more learned than himself not to presume
to live contrary to the universal custom of the church in
relation to either the observance of Easter or any other
decrees whatsoever, considering the small number of his
followers seated at so distant a corner of the world." *
This admonition seems to have had the desired effect,
for on his return to lona he tried hard either to convince or
-compel the brethren to conform to the Roman custom in
everything, as he had done himself. His zeal for the new
order of things created a schism in the Columban Church,
and caused discord among brethren who had always dwelt
together in unity.
The feeling against Adamnan's innovations must
have been deep and strong when neither the dignity of his
¦office, nor his descent from the tribe of Columba,
nor the obedience which they owed him as their superior,
•could induce the " Family of lona " to recognise his
authority in changing a custom sanctioned by the example
of Columba. He attended, the Synod held at Tara in 692. In 697
lie again visited Ireland, and, according to some authori
ties, wrote his " Life of Columba " in the interval. On his
return to lona after a stay of seven years' in Ireland, he
made another attempt to convert the disciples of Columba
to the Roman customs, " without being able to prevail." 2
He died on 23rd September, 704, leaving to his successor
the heavy burden of a schismatic church.
After Adamnan's death, the Easter controversy seems
to have been renewed with considerable vigour among the
¦" Family of lona." It is difficult to find any other reason
for the want of unanimity that prevailed among them.
The custom of the Church had all along been to choose the
(i), (2) Bede, H.E., Bk. V., Chap. 15.

l6 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
abbot from the tribe of the founder, but evidently the
Roman party had now grown strong enough to set aside
the Columban custom, and accordingly that party
appointed Conmhall — the first Abbot not of Columba's Tribe,
During his abbacy, the Columban party appointed
Duncadh, who was of the founder's tribe. Conmhall died
in 710. After his death, Ceode; called Bishop of lona, and
Dorbehi held the abbacy in succession. The first died in
712 and the last in 713. Duncadh who, as we have seenr
was in office during the lifetime of Conmhall, then became
sole abbot. Duncadh himself, and those who thought
with him, conformed in 716, and the Columban party
elected Faelcu, who was descended from the tribe of the
founder. When Conmhall was abbot ten years before,
Naiton, king of the Picts, adopted the new views, and on
the death of Duncadh in 717, expelled from his dominions
all the Columban monks who refused to conform. This
persecution broke up the Church among the Picts, and
drove the monks to seek refuge among their kin in Ireland,
Dalriada, and lona. In the latter place their number
would strengthen the opposition to the Roman party, and
the schism would go on.
In 722 Feidhlimidh and Faelcu held the abbacy at the
same time.
Cillene Fada succeeded Faelcu in 724, Cilline
Droichteach in 716. Feidhlimidh was still living when
Cilline Droichteach, bridge-maker, became abbot. He
was the first anchorite abbot of lona, and died in
752. Slebhine succeeded to the abbacy in 752, and when he
died in 767,
Suibhne became sole abbot of lona.
Both abbots visited the Columban monasteries in
Ireland within a few years of each other. Their visit was,

DESCENT OF THE DANES. 17
no doubt, in connection with the schism that still existed
at home. After the death of Suibhne in 772,
Breasal became abbot, and the conformity of the
" Family of lona" to the Roman order ended the schism in
the old monastery of Columba.
Peace having been restored within, a new danger
threatened the brethren from without In 795 the Danes
made their first descent on lona. Again in 798 "they
plundered the islands of the sea between Erin and Alban."
In 801 Breasal died, after having held the abbacy for
thirty-one years.
Connachtach, 801-802.
Monastery of lona burnt by the Danes.
Cellach, 802-814.
The community of lona, numbering sixty-eight, slain
by the Danes, Cellach builds a new stone monastery at
Kells. Between 802 and 807, remains of Columba said to
have been enshrined and taken to Ireland.
Diarmaid, 814-831.
Diarmaid returned to lona with the shrine of
Columba in 818. During his absence in Ireland the
wooden monastery had probably been replaced by one of
stone. Decline of lona as, the head of the Columban order.
In 825 the Danes again plundered lona.. Shrine of
Columba concealed in the earth and covered with sods.
Blathmac, the superior, refused to disclose the place and
was slain by the Danes— 829. Diarmaid, who was absent
during this plundering, returned to lona with (Mionna)
crozier, books, etc., of Columba.
Probably a small oratory built over the spot where the
shrine was concealed.
Innrechtach, 831-854.
Went to Ireland in 849 with Mionna of Columba.
Slain by the Saxons on his way to Rome. Kenneth
M Alpine, a Scot, became king of the Picts. The
Columban monks brought back by Kenneth to the

1 8 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
country from which they had been expelled by Naiton,
king of the Picts, in 710. Kenneth founds the Church of
Dunkeld, which took the place of lona among the
Columban monasteries. Part of Columba's relics are said
to have been transferred to Dunkeld.
Cellach, 854-865.
Abbot of lona and Kildare. Driven by the Danes to
seek refuge among the Picts. Died probably at Abernethy,
to which the primacy was now transferred. The round
tower there is of the same type as that of Kildare. Both
of Celtic workmanship.
Feradhach, 865-880.
Norwegian Vikings threaten the Western Isles. Shrine
and Mionna of Columba removed to Ireland.
Flann, 880-881.
The term Scottish Church first used.
Maelbrighde, 891-927, abbot of Armagh and lona.
Shrine of Columba brought back to lona.
Primacy transferred from Abernethy to St. Andrews.
In 908 kings of the Picts now first called kings of Alban.
About this period, during the struggle between the Danes
and Norwegians for the possession of the Western Isles,
lona was burnt by the Danes of Limerick on Christmas
eve,. 986, and eleven of the clergy slain. The shrine of
Columba removed from lona to Down. A year or two
afterwards the Isles passed into the hands of the Nor
wegians. In 1005 Malcolm II. began his reign over Alban,
now for the first time called Scotland. In 1027 Dunkeld
destroyed by fire.
Two years after the Norman Conquest of England in
1066, the royal family of the Saxon line fled to Scotland
and took refuge at the court of Malcolm Canmore, son of
Malcolm the second, and great-grandson of Ciran, lay
abbot of Dunkeld. In 1069 Malcolm married Margaret,
sister of Edgar Athehng, the heir of the Saxon line.
Margaret was a devoted adherent of the Roman Church, in

ST. MARGARET AND THE COLUMBAN CHURCH. 19
-which she had been reared, and when she became Queen
¦of Scotland her attention was naturally directed to the
condition- of the Christian Church in the land of her
adoption. That Church, as we have seen, had passed
through various changes and suffered many things since
its establishment by Columba in 563.
At the council of Whitby it received its first check
from the Roman mission established at Canterbury, and
Colman of Lindisfarne, the successor of Aidan, returned
to lona. Adamnan had failed in his attempt to change the
custom of the Columban Church, and when his successor
was appointed a schism arose among the " Family of lona,"
which continued to the time of Abbot Bressal. Fifty-five
years before this, the Pictish king expelled the Columban
monks from his kingdom because they would not depart
from the custom of their fathers. They were restored to
their possessions by Kenneth MAlpine, who founded the
Church of Dunkeld, and appointed an abbot of Dunkeld
head of the Church among the Picts. When the kings of
the Picts began to be called kings of Alban, the tribal
bishops in the Columban Church among the Picts were
designated bishops of Alban. In 908 the primacy was
transferred to St. Andrews, and Cellach became first bishop
-of Alban. Fothad, who died in 1093, was tne ^ast- With
his death the succession in the old Celtic Church came to
an end after lasting for 185 years. From the coming of
Columba to the death of Malcolm Canmore, Scotland had
a National Church. "Wholly unlike any Church now exist
ing in the world, that which came to be gradually substituted
for it during many centuries was merely one branch of the
great Latin community which occupied the whole of
Western Europe." T It was neither Roman nor Saxon,
but Celtic. It was in no way subject to Rome ; many of
its clergy were married men. Hereditary succession in
(1) Duke of Argyle.

-t>

20 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
benefices was common in Scotland and Ireland. It was;
monastic not diocesan. The source of jurisdiction was-
vested in the abbot. The language spoken by the first and
last missionaries of the old National Church of Scotland.
was the language of Malcolm Canmore and his court. It
survived the four conquests of England, and in it the
Gospel is preached to this day in the island where Columba.
lived and died. When St. Margaret discovered that the
Celtic Church differed in many practices from her own,
"she contended against the supporters of these, strange
customs, while her royal husband, who was equally well
acquainted with the Anglic language and with his native
Gaelic, acted as interpreter." z
Her biographer further informs us that she persuaded
the council to condemn and drive out of the kingdom all
practic escontrary to the rule of faith, 2
The changes she introduced removed any lingering-
customs of the old Columban Church which still survived..
When the Western Isles fell irtt-o.the hands of Malcolm in
1074, she restored the monastery of lona, which had been
allowed to decay during the long struggle between Danes
and Norwegians.
In 1093 the Western Isles were handed over by the
Scottish king to Magnus Barefoot, king of Norway, and in
November of the same year, Malcolm, the last of the old
dynasty of Celtic kings was slain at Alnwick. St. Margaret
did not survive the news of her husband's death, who was
succeeded by his son Edgar. In this year also the lsst
native bishop of Alban died, and six years after Dunnchad
Mac Mic Maonach (the son of the monk's son), the last of
the old abbots of lona. Although the Roman Church
was dominant in Scotland at the death of St. Margaret, her
son Edgar made no attempt to carry out, the policy of his
mother in subjecting the Scottish Church to Roman rule.
After the death of Edgar, the kingdom was divided
(1), (2) Life of Si. Marg., Chap. 8.

DIOCESAN SYSTEM INTRODUCED. 21
"between Alexander, who succeeded him, and Earl David,
liis brother. When Alexander ascended the throne, he
appointed Turgot, prior of Durham, bishop of St. Andrews.
The work of superseding the monastic organisation of the
old Celtic Church was now begun by introducing the
diocesan system, which was in good working order before
the death of David the first. Alexander created the
bishoprics of Moray and Dunkeld. He introduced canons
regular of St. Augustine, and placed them at Scone,
Dunkeld, and Inchcolm. What Alexander was doing in
-one part of Scotland, his brother David was doing in
another. A monastery of Benedictines was founded by
David at Selkirk. He restored and founded several
abbeys — Jedburgh, Melrose, and Newbattle. He founded
the diocese of Ross, Caithness, Aberdeen, Dunblane, etc.
David's successors, Malcolm IV. and William the Lion,
introduced Cistercians at Cupar-Angus, and Benedictines
at Arbroath. Under the shadow of this system, the old
Columban Church, represented by the oppressed and
persecuted Culdees, gradually withered away.
From the death of Maelbrighde in 927 to the death of
Domhall, abbot of Kells, in 1098, sixteen coarbs1 of
Golumkille had lived and died. This interval has been
passed over as there is almost nothing to record except the
death or succession of an abbot.
Domhnall, abbot of Kells and coarb of Columkille,
1062-1098. His abbacy forms a kind of connecting link between
the Columban foundations on the mainland of Scotland
which came to an end in King David's reign, and the
mother Church in the island of which he was abbot.
During his lifetime great changes had taken place. The
Western Isles had been ceded to Malcolm by the king of
Norway. Five years before his death they passed again
into the hands of the Norwegians. He was alive six years
(I) Heirs.

22 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
before Queen Margaret came to Scotland. He was still
living five years after she died. He outlived by five years
the last native bishop of Alban. A year before his death
Magnus, king of Norway, visited lona, " and opened the
smaller Church of Kollum Kille, but did not go in. He
immediately lccked the door, and said that no man should
be so bold as to go in there, and that Church has never
been opened since."
After this visit of Magnus, the history of lona is a blank
for well over half a century. During that long silent
period the Isle of Columba seems to have been isolated
both from Ireland and Scotland. There is no Adamnan to-
tell us what was taking place. Galleys manned by strange,.
fierce men would come as of old to lay the dead of their
race in the sepulchre of the kings. Others filled with
armed warriors would also come on their old errands of
plunder, as they had done centuries before.
Towards the end of this period, when the light becomes-
clearer, we find^fhat Godred, the Norwegian king of the isles,.
and Somerled, the Celtic ruler of Argyle, had divided the
Isles between them.
Somerled had- married the granddaughter of Magnus,
the Norwegian king, and her son, Dubghal, with the
assistance-. of his, father and Thorfinn, a Norwegian chief,
was made king of the Isles. This usurpation led to a war
between- .Somerled and. Godred, king, of Norway. A
battle was fought in 1 156, and, as neither side could claim
the victory, the leaders agreed to divide the land between
them. All the isles south of Ardnamurchan fell to-
Somerled, and lona, as in>Ithe days of Adian, king of
Dalriada, again became the , ;possession of a Celtic
race. Two years before this division took place, while the
Jsles were still subject to Norway, Pope Anastasius IV.
erected the metropolitan see of Tronthem, and the Sudreys;
that is the isles south of Ard|narnurchan, were annexed to-

BENEDICTINE MONASTERY FOUNDED, 23
the new province, and included in the bishopric of Man.
The see is spoken of as Sodor and Man.
The monastery of lona was at this time without an
abbot. The right to elect one was vested in the sacart
mor, or great priest, Ferleighin, or lector, the Desertach,
head of the hermitage, and the Cele De, head of the
Culdees. »
Some years after Somerled had acquired the Isles, he
and the chief men of the Isles offered the abbacy of lona
to Flaithbertach O'Brolchan, bishop of Derry, and coarb,
or heir of Columkille, but the abbot of Armagh, the king of
Ireland, and the chiefs of Cinel Eoghan prevented it. This.
took place in 1164, and a year or two afterwards Somerled
was slain.
There was, therefore, no abbacy when Reginald, son of
Somerled, succeeded his father in the lordship of the
Isles. lona was in possession of the Culdees, and evidently
Donald O'Brolchan, who died in 1202, was head of the
order. The work of substituting monks of the Roman order
for those of the old Church, had, as we have seen, been
quite successful on the mainland of Scotland, What
Alexander I., David, Malcolm IV, and William the Lyon
had done within their kingdom, Reginald now did in his.
During the reign of William the Lyon he founded a
monastery of benedictines in lona, with Clestinus as first
abbot. The deed of confirmation by the Pope is dated
1203. No doubt the benedictine abbot had full power
granted him from his civil and ecclesiastical superiors to
carry out the policy which he immediately adopted towards
the remnant of the old Celtic community. In other parts
of Scotland we know that the prelate had full power to op
press the Culdees and seize their property. David I., in
1 144, signed a charter which reads as under, " Be it known
to you that I have granted and given to the canons of St
(1) Skene, Celtic Scotland, Vol. II., p. 414.

24 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
Andrews the Island of Lochleven, that they may institute'
there an order of canons ; and the Culdees who are found
there, if they wish to live according to rule, may remain in
peace with them and under them, but if any of them choose
to resist, I wish and command that he be expelled from the
island." Whether Clestinus had a similar mandate from
Reginald or not, his first act of aggression was to drive out
the old community.
The last mention of lona in the Irish annals makes this
clear. A monastery was erected by Cellach (Clestinus)
without any legal right, " and in despite of the ' Family of
Hy,' in the middle of Cro-Hy, and did considerable
damage to the town. The clergy of the north assembled
together to pass over into Hy, namely Florcance O'
Carolan, bishop of Tyrone ; Maelisa O'Derry, bishop of
Tirconnel and abbot of the Abbey Church of Paul and
Peter at Armagh ; Awley O'Ferghail, abbot of the Abbey
Church of Derry ;. with Ainmire O'Coffey, many of the
family of Derry, and a great number of the northern clergy
beside. They passed over into Hy, and, in accordance
with the law of the Church, they subsequently pulled down
the monastery, and the aforesaid Awley was elected abbot
of Hy by the suffrages of Foreigners and Gaeidhel."

25

NOTES ON THE ANTIQUITIES.

The death of Reginald, founder of the Benedictine
Monastery, is recorded by MacVurich in the book of
Clan Ranald as follows : That having obtained a cross from
Jerusalem and having received the body of Christ, and
extreme unction, he died and was buried in Relig Oran,
lona, in A.D., 1207' (see page 64). From this date,
during the long period of three hundred and eighty-seven
years, there is little known of the history of lona. A
reference in a clan record to a burial : a deed of convey
ance from an old charter-chest bearing the abbot's seal ;
or a State paper granting the king's protection to a prioress,
and sometimes an allusion in an old Gaelic poem, to the
robbers who came to rob and not to pray, are the only
indications that the monastery of monks and nuns founded
by the son of Somerled still continued to exist, After the
Benedictines had established themselves at lona, until 1560
the " luminary of the Caledonian regions was in ' dim
eclipse,' and ' shed disastrous twilight ' on roving clans and
savage barbarians." In the interval between the Reforma
tion and the Revolution settlement in 1690, very little
attention was paid to the condition of ecclesiastical edifices
in England or Scotland. In the case of the " ruins of lona "
there is no proof that any systematic attempt was ever
made to destroy the buildings by those whose religious
opinions differed from the system that had been dominant

26 IONA: ITS" HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
for so many centuries. Freeman's remarks about the Goths
and Vandals can easily be applied to the history of the
ecclesiastical buildings in lona and elsewhere with a great
deal of truth. " It is needless at this time of day to refute
once more the ancient slander which laid the destruction of
the monuments of Pagan Rome to the charge of Goths and
Vandals ... it was mainly at the hands of her own
children, from the first Christian i Emperor who 'built a
church to the last Pope's nephew who built a palace that
the work of the men of old crumbled away." *
There is substantial evidence to prove that the monastic
buildings in lona were destroyed by the adherents of the-
religious system which they represent. There is a poem in
" The Book of the Dean of Lismore " beginning as follows :
" The one demon of the Gael'is dead,
A tale 'tis well to remember,
Fierce ravager of church and cross
The bald-head, heavy, worthless boar.

Mac Ruarie from the ocean far,
Wealth thou'st got without an effort.
'Tis, a report we can't neglect,
For with Columba I must meet,
'Tis a report that fills the land,
Bald-head Allan thou so faithless,
That thou hast, not thine only crime
• Ravaged I and Relig Oran,
Fiercely didst thou then destroy
Priest's vestments and vessels for the mass." 2
The Allan MacRuarie seems to have been the son of
Ranald, ancestor of Clan Ranald. This Ranald was the
second son of John Lord of the Isles, great-great-grandson
of Reginald,- the founder of the monastery of monks and
nuns destroyed by his relative Allan MacRuarie.
(i) Quarterly Review, 1882.
(2) Dean of Lismore's Book, page 144.

THE PORTS OF IONA. 2f
In a note to this poem Dr. Skene remarks " the
reformers had probably less to do with the destruction of
the buildings in lona than is generally thought." *
At the Reformation, in 1560, lona and the lands
belonging of old to the monastery, fell into the hands of
Lachlan M'Lean of Duart The Abbey of lona was
annexed to the Bishopric of the Isles in 1617. In 1635
Charles I. wrote Lachlan M'Lean, of Duart, asking him to
restore the Island of Icolmkill to the Bishop of the Isles.
In the same year he directed the Lords of the Exchequer
to pay a grant of £400 to the Bishop of the Isles to repair
the Cathedral. When Sacheverell, Governor of Man,
visited lona in 1688, the buildings were in ruins. The
money had evidently not been paid, or some other use was
found for it. About 1693 lona came into the possession
of the Dukes of Argyle.
PORT RONAN CRonan's Port).
Though not the portus insulae of Adamnan, Port Ronan
has always been the principal harbour of the Island. The
names of the little harbours on the east side are all more
or less suggestive of the ecclesiastical establishment to
which lona owes all its fame.
Port a Crossain (port of the little cross) is near the
middle of the village, near which stood Crois Adhamnain
(Adamnan's Cross). Port na Muinntir (the port of the
people) is a little farther to the east than the last cottage
in the village.
Port an Diseart (port of the hermitage) about a quarter
of a mile east of the abbey ruins and near Cladh an Diseart
(burial place of the hermitage), where the foundation of a
small oratory can be traced.
< Port nam Mairtear (martyrs' port), the sandy bay south
of the village near the Free Church. Martyr is evidently a
(1) Dean of Lismore's Book, page 144.

•28 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
corruption of the old Irish word marta, the term for the
-enshrined bones of a saint. We learn from the Irish Annals
that enshrining was common during the 8th century. From
the same source we also learn that St. Columba's bones
were enshrined after they had lain for more than a hundred
years in the soil of the island that bears his name and trans
ferred to Ireland. The name marta may have been given
to the bay from which the Currach sailed and to which it
returned again in 818 with Dermaid, abbot of lona, bearing
with him the marta of Collum kille.
In the olden time the remains of those brought for
burial in lona were landed at this bay, and tradition
records that the body was laid on the little sandy mound
called Ella,1 near the head of the bay, where all the
inhabitants gathered to pour " their wailing o'er the dead."
This custom was observed as late as 1857. Even to
this day, when the remains of those who have the right of
burial in the Relig Oran are brought by sea, there is an
instinctive tendency to follow the old custom and land at
Martyrs' bay.
Cladh nan Druidnean (burial place of the Druids) is
immediately behind the thatched cottage at the head of
this bay.
It is full of human bones. The old enclosure wall,
described by Pennant, has long since disappeared, and
there is now nothing left to help the stranger in distinguish
ing the: old burial place from the pasture land that
surrounds it. Even those natives intimately acquainted
with the traditional site are unable accurately to define its
area. When following their usual occupation, they have
been occasionally reminded of its existence, and, like
Virgil's plowman, passed the plow over empty helmets,
and wondered at the mighty, relics of gigantic bones.
There is no record or tradition when it began or ceased to
be used as a place of burial. (1) A bier.

29

THE NUNNERY.
GAELIC — EAGLAS DHUBH.

LADY
CHAPEL

None of the principal ecclesiastical ruins now standing in
lona belong to the time or system of the primitive Celtic
Church. " The early Celtic Church, which gave to lona all
its fame, was, in its organisation, wholly unlike any Church
now existing in the world." 2 . Canterbury was ignorant of
(i) The plan is from a Drawing1 by Dr. Rowand Anderson, F.S.A. Scot., etc.
(2) ,Duke of Argyle.

30 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
it, and Rome acknowledged it not. Female monastic
institutions formed no part of the system of Columba, nor
¦of his immediate successors.
The record kept from time to time by the.Macvurichs,
the hereditary historians of the clan Macdonald, informs us
that Reginald, son of Somerled, Lord of the Isies, who
lived during the reign of William the Lyon, founded in
lona a monastery of black nuns, and that his sister Beatrice
was a black nun. From another source we learn1 that
Somerled, father of Reginald, had an only daughter, who
was prioress of Icolmkill. This Reginald succeeded to the
Lordship of the Isles in 1166, and died- in 1207. In this
interval the monastery was founded, with Beatrice, sister of
Reginald, as first prioress. Bowar, abbot of Inchcolm, who
wrote in 1445, says that the nuns were of the order of St.
Augustine. He is not likely to have been mistaken, as, during th?
time he was abbot of Inchcolm, it was occupied by canons
of St. Augustine. If nuns of the same order were in lona
when he wrote he would not likely be ignorant of the fact.
Both orders may have occupied lona at different periods.
The Augustine nuns taking the place of the Benedictines
when the abbey of lona became subject to Dunkeld.
The nunnery buildings originally extended beyond the
western boundary wall. There is no evidence that they
were of greater extent than they are now in any other
direction. As nearly as can be ascertained', the ruins may
be described as consisting of kitchen, refectory, chapter
house, with stone seats, cloister foundations, and chapel
with aisle on the north side. The west gable of the chapel
is beautifully proportioned, and contains a large round-
headed Norman window, deeply splayed on the inside.
The arches opening into the aisle are Norman, and are
probably of the same period as the three small arches in
the north transept of the abbey church. They are of the
(1) Knock MS.

THE NUNNERY. ¦' 31
type in use prior to the 12th century, but, as this charac
teristic of Norman architecture continued longer in Scotland
than in England, the probability is that the building is
nearer the 13th century than the 12th.
The spaces between the arches have been filled up with
solid masonry. This new departure from the old type has
given rise to a good deal of speculation, and new theories
have been advanced to account for the peculiarity.
Antiquarians, unable to define the type have turned away
in weariness and disgust. The modern ecclesiastic with
medieval leanings sees in the ugly blemish thehandof the
reformer, and, in sorrow of heart, turns away his eyes from
beholding iniquity. People who " mind the bigging o't "
have left in record that a former Duke of Argyle ordered
the spaces to be built up to prevent cattle and horses
finding their way into the building.
This took place at a period long anterior to the move
ment for the restoration and preservation of ancient
monuments. In days when the island was seldom visi,ted
by the stranger, and the tourist steamer was unknown.
The style of architecture in the east end of the nunnery
chapel is different from the west. The roof was vaulted.
The vaulting ribs were supported by four columns, one at
each corner. A fragment of the base is still in its place.
The vaulting ribs were carved, and the spaces between them
filled in with light flat arching, when the distance between
the ribs was short, with long stones reaching from one rib
to another. The gable was pierced by a large double
.window ; sixty-seven years ago it was entire ; shortly after
that date it gave way, and, in its fall, carried with it the .
vaulted roof, and smashed some of the tombstones under
neath, among them that of the prioress Anna, now standing
in the north-west corner of the chapel (see page 60).
In 1508-9, the king's protection was granted to. "the
nuns of Lady Agnes, daughter of Donald M'Laine, prioress
of the monastery and convent of the most blessed Virgin,

32 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
in the Island of St. Columba, within the Lordship of the
Isles." This is no doubt her tombstone. There are a
number of tombstones in line east of the chapel. They
have no inscription, and nothing is known of their history.
Another stone, with top and bottom corners broken off, has
two female figures standing in niches at the top. The
decoration on the lower half seems to be of the same design
as the tombstone of the four priors in Relig Oran. The
fragment left of the Latin inscription round the edge reads,
" Here lies Marion, daughter of John Lauchlan Lord
of" ....
Seven years after the Reformation (1567), Queen Mary
granted to " Marioun Makclaine the prioressie and nunrie
of the abbey of Ycolmkill." This stone is, in all likelihood,
her memorial. It stands on the left of the entrance to
The Lady Chapel.
The roof is vaulted. The vaulting ribs are arched with
thin stones stretching from one rib to another. The ribs
do not spring' from columns as in the east end of the
nunnery chapel, but from corbels, and is nearer the form of
vaulting that preceded the early Gothic. As the Gothic
builders at first used this system of vaulting, while retaining
in the structure the rounded arch, there is no reason for
supposing one part of the building to be older than another.
A narrow stone staircase leads to the small apartment
immediately over the vaulted roof. On the north side of
the nunnery chapel stands
Tempull Ronaig (Ronan's church).
It differs slightly in orientation from the larger chapel.
This was evidently the parish church before the reformation.
A document in the charter chest of Sir John Campbell
of Airds and Ardnamurchan, printed for the first time by
the " lona Club " in 1 847, refers to " the teinds of Ecolmkill,
called the personaige of Tempill Rbnaige."
" Item, the personag of Kilviceowin in Rosse."
" Item, the personag of Keilfeinehen in Mull, etc.*'

THE STREET OF THE DEAD. 33
Cladh Ronan is the name given to the burial place
within this enclosure.
According to an entry in the annals of Tighernach,
Ronan died abbot of Kingarth, in Bute, in 737.
Sraid nan marbh (street of the dead).
The present highway, leading from the nunnery to
Relig Oran and the cathedral, is erroneously named " street
of the dead " in all the guide books to lona. The street of
the dead began near the centre of Martyrs' bay, and passing
close to the little hillock (ella), continued north until it
reached within a short distance of the nunnery, it then took
a north-easterly direction, but- much nearer the schoolroom
than the present road, and, passing within twenty feet of
the parish manse, joined the existing road just where it
begins to rise, a little farther up than the little gate leading
to the parish church. From this point it led to Relig Oran,
in the same direction as now. " The broad paved way,
which is continued in a line from the nunnery to the
cathedral," T ran parallel to the present road — straight past
M'Lean's Cross — on in front of the hdtel and Relig Oran,
until it entered the cathedral enclosure between St. Martin's
Cross and Dun na Manaich. Between the nunnery and
the gate leading to the hdtel, and on either side of this old
causeway, stood a number of houses, which formed the
Balla More or great town of the island. The field in
which the parish church stands formed part of the lands
of Balla More, and the foundations of old houses have been
found behind the church. At one time there was an arched
door at each corner of the Balla More called dorus trath
(time doors). This statement is made on the authority of
a native, long since dead, but who has left on record the
statement that " he remembered seeing a portion of one of
the arches standing." This statement is corroborated from
an older source. "A considerable citie was in the isle of
old, called Sodora, the vestiges whereof are yet visible
(1) Pennant.

34 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
(1693) by the port and streets thereof. It lay in the midst
of the isle upon the east coast. *
The three principal highways, mentioned by Pennant
and others, approached each other near the centre of the
Balla More, and this centre was, in all probability, indicated
by M'Lean' s Cross.
On the west side — the side facing the old street of the
dead — there is a representation of the crucifixion in a very
crude form. At the foot of the shaft there is a figure on
horseback, like the one on tombstone number 5 in the
ridge of the chiefs. The foliageous scroll work is of the
usual design peculiar to crosses of this type.
M'Lean's Cross has always been described in the guide
books as " one of the oldest Celtic crosses in Scotland." A
recent guide book states " that it stands on the very spot "
where St. Columba rested on his way from the barn the
day before his death.
Neither in form nor ornamentation is it entitled to be
classed among the oldest Celtic crosses. It is of the same
type of M'Kinnon's, which stands in the chapel of St. Oran,
bearing an inscription with the date 1489. The Oronsay
Cross is, perhaps, the best type of its class. Like
M'Kinnon's, the inscription is in Latin, and was, evidently,
the memorial cross of a prior who died in 15 10. It has a
figure of the crucifixion on the west face, like M'Lean's.
Dr. Anderson's remarks, in reference to crosses of this type,
are 'well worth remembering. " It is noticeable that the
crosses, which present foliageous scroll-work as the principal
element of their decoration, usually bear the representation
of the crucifixion. No such representation ever appears on
the crosses or the slabs, which either exhibit the symbols,
or are characterised by the presence of the pure style of
Celtic art. They bear the cross, but not the crucified figure.
Hence it is apparent that the latest of all these types of
monuments is that which bears the crucifixion, and is
(1) Macfarlane MS., Adv. Library.

THE CROSSES. 35
decorated with foliageous scrolls." T No account of
M'Lean's Cross would be complete without some reference
to the statement made- by an anonymous writer in 1688,
and repeated by all subsequent writers on lona, " that
M'Lean's Cross is one of the 360 standing before the
reformation ; the others were thrown into the sea by order
¦of the Synod of Argyle." Allowance,, of course, must be
made for the perversity of a pious imagination.
Monro, who visited lona in 1594, thirty-three years after
it had become legal to destroy whatever the people
of that time considered to be " monuments of idolatry,"
.and twenty-seven after the appointment of Marion
Maclane as prioress, gives no hint that any tradition on
the subject was known to the inhabitants of lona in his day.
If the crosses were destroyed before Monro's visit, surely a
-disaster that swept away 360 sculptured monuments that
were not only conspicuous land-marks, but objects of
religious veneration, would not be unrecorded in some form
-or other by those who felt it most. Those who are careful
to perpetuate this fiction forget to note the fact that the
altar, the chief monument of idolatry, was entire in 1688,
-one hundred and twenty years after the passing of the act
legalising its destruction. When the lovers of ancient art
and the devotees of medieval superstition began to visit our
shores, it gradually disappeared. In 1772 an Englishman
conveyed his portion to his own land. In this way the
venerable relic was smashed to pieces and appropriated by
the pious without condescending to consult the Synod of
Argyle. Why the Catholic Presbyterians of Reformation
times should have spent their strength in dragging from
their sockets 360 heavy blocks of stone, and not have
sufficient energy left to throw into the sea a marble slab,
six feet by four, will always remain a subject of speculation
for the curious.
Kill Chainnich (church of Kenneth) stood within the
( I ) Anderson, Scotland in early Christian Times, p. 83.

36 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
area occupied by the present parish church, built in 1830.
With the exception of the freestone used in the door and
windows, all the building material was found in the island.
A tombstone without an inscription was found some years
ago behind the church.
The small island of Inch Kenneth is about half a mile
north-east of the headland of Grubin, in Mull, and was
visited by Dr. Johnson when on his way to lona. The
interior of the ruined chapel on this island continues to be
used as a burial place by the natives of the neighbouring
parish. The island is named after Cainnich, the intimate friend
of Columba.

37

REILIG ORAIN, or RELIC OAHRAIN.

The Irish term for a burial place borrowed from the Latin
reliquiae (remains), and known as the burial place of Orain,
brother of St. Columba, who according to tradition, was the
first of the twelve brethren buried in lona. In the old Irish
life of Columba, contained in the Leathar Breac, translated
about. 1 397 from a text three centuries older, the following
account is given of Orain's death : — " Colum Celli then said
to his people it is good for us that our roots should go
under the ground here, and he said to them, ' it is permitted
to you that some one of you may go under the clay of this
island to consecrate it.' Orain rose up obediently and what
he said was ' If you would accept me,' said he, ' I am ready
for that' ' O Orain,' said Colum Celli, ' thou shalt have the
reward therefore, viz., his prayer shall not be granted to any
one at my grave unless it is from thee he asks it first'
Orain went then to heaven." He (Colum Celli), afterwards
founded the church of Hii. The traditional account has
more of the supernatural. Columba had received intimation
from heaven that a human sacrifice was essential to the
success of his mission, and that Orain offered himself and
was buried alive. On the third day Columba opened the
grave. Orain looked at him and said, " Death is no wonder,
nor is hell as it is said." Columba's reply has passed into
a proverb. " Earth, earth on Orain's eye lest he talk more."
This story was unknown to Adamnan, the biographer
of Columba, who was born twenty-seven years after his

38 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
death, and had conversed with men who had known the
saint Orain's name is not mentioned by Adamnan. It is
not found in the oldest list of the twelve companions who-
accompanied Columba to lona. Further, Adamnan states
quite clearly that Brito was the first of the brethren who-
died in Iona.T In the Annals of the Four Masters there is
recorded the death of one Orain in 548, fifteen years before
Columba came to lona. The story on the Leathar Breac:
and the traditionary anex are therefore without any
historical foundation.
The Gaelic words now used to denote a burial place, are
keil and cladh. If proverbs prove anything the term relic.
seems to have been in use in the olden time.
Biodh dull ri fear fairge dch cha bhi ri fear reilge.2
There is hope of the man at sea but none of the man in the
relic (churchyard).
It is difficult to tell in what age lona first became a.
famous place of sepulture. Some old writers place the first
royal interments nearly a century before the coming of
Columba, but their evidence is not sufficient to warrant us
in believing that Pictish or other kings were buried in lona,.
while the Roman legions were still in Britain. From the
coming of Columba to the birth of Adamnan, one hundred
and sixteen years had passed away. Eight Abbots of lona
had died and were buried before the biographer of Columba
became Abbot of Hy. He lived at a period sufficiently
removed from the time of the first Abbot to give the
sepulchre of his brethren the interest and dignity of age,.
yet he does not mention by name any special burial place
hallowed by the dust of those who had gone before him..
In the case of Columba he tells us that the body was placed
in a coffin (Ratabustd) 3 that was prepared for it, and buried
with due reverence, and that the spot was well known in his
(1) Adam., Bk. III., Chap. 7.
(2) Gaelic proverb.
(3) Meaning not known.

REILIG ORAIN. * 39
. own day.' Cummene's life of Columba, which Adamnan
has incorporated with his own, takes us back to within
sixty years of the Saint's death, yet even in his case
there is no hint given of name or locality that helps in any
way to identify the original burial place of the " Family of
lona." If we could prove that the Reilig Orain is within the
bounds of what is thought to be the site of the original
monastery, the presumption of its being the actual sepulchre
of Columba's day would be greatly strengthened. Whether
the graves of Columba's household be in this particular spot
or not, of one thing we are certain that for upwards of 400
years Reilig Orain was the burial place of the kings, chiefs,
and churchmen of Celtic Scotland.
Of sepulchral Christian monuments in Scotland there
are only seven inscriptions in the old Celtic vernacular, and
five of these are in lona. The writer knows of four. Two
are in Reilig Orain, and two in the small burial place close
to the reputed grave of Columba, on the north side of the
Cathedral nave. The inscription on these stones is the
same in language and form as that on Irish tombstones
after the ninth century. The form of the cross is the same
as that found on Irish tombstones of the same date. It
may be well to state before going further that the present
railing was erected a number of years ago to protect the
stones from the feet of the careless. Before the railing was
erected they seemed to have been shifted about from one
place to another, and several of them are not now in their
original position. From the references made from time to
time by visitors to lona, with the help that any existing
tradition could afford, we have been enabled to indicate
where the stones lay when Pennant visited the island in
1772. Monro, dean of the Isles, visited lona in 1594, but his
description is too general to be of much service. As
(1) Adam.. Bk. III., Chap. 24.

40 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
Monro's account is the first authentic description given by .
a visitor three hundred years ago, in order to begin with
something definite, we shall begin with him.
" Within this ile of Colmkill there is ane sanctuary also,
or kirkyaird, called in Eirsche, Reelig Orain, quhilk is a
very fair kirkyaird, and weill biggit about with staine and
lyme. Into this sanctuary ther is three tombes of staine,
formit like little chapels, with ane braid gray marble or
quhin staine in the gavill of ilk ane of the tombes. In the
staine of the ane tombe there is wretten in Latin letters :
Tumulus Regum Scotiae, that is, the tombe or grave of the
Scotts kings. Within this tombe, according to our Scotts
cronikels, ther layes forty-eight cr'owned Scotts kings. . .
. . The tombe on the south syde forsaid has this inscrip
tion : Tumulus Regum Hiberniae ; that is, the tombe of the
Ireland kinges : for we have in our auld Eirsche cronickells
that ther wes foure Irland kinges eirdit in the said
tombe. " Upon the north syde of our Scotts tombe, the inscrip
tion beares : - Tumulus Regum Norwegiae, that is, the tombe
of the kinges of Norroway ; and also we find in our Eirsche
cronickells, that Caelus, king of Norroway, commandit his
nobils to take his body and bury it in Colmkill, if it chancit
him to die in the ilcs. . . Within this sanctuary
also lies the maist pairt of the Lords of the Isles with ther
lynage. Twa clan lynes, with ther lynage, M'Kynnon and
M'Quarie, with ther lynages, with sundries uthers, inhabit
ants of the haill iles. ..."
Briefly, the chief points to note in Monro's account are
as follows : The burial place was bounded on all sides by a
stone and lime wall ; there were three tombs formed like
little chapels, with a conspicuous stone bearing in Latin
letters an inscription on the gable of each. The tombs
were in a line with each other north and south. The stone
in the gable of the tomb at the north end of the line was
inscribed the tomb of the kings of Norway, that at the

THE RIDGE OF THE KINGS. 41
south end of the line, the tomb of the kings of Ireland,
the one in the centre, the tomb of the kings of Scotland.
Monro gives very little information regarding the size
or structure of the tombs. Whether they were like the
" kirkyaird weill biggit about with staine and lyme," he does
not say. When Pennant visited lona, one hundred and
seventy-eight years after Munro, the tombs were in a
ruinous condition. " I was very desirous of viewing the
tombs of the kings, described by the dean of the Isles, and
from him by Buchanan. . . . But of these celebrated
tombs he could discover nothing more than certain slight
remains, that were built in a ridged form and arched within,
but the inscriptions were lost. These are called Iomaire-nan
Righ " — the ridge of the kings. From this description —
" built in a ridged form and arched within " — one would
naturally infer that they were of the same type as the dome
roofed sepulchres in Ireland. These were built without
mortar at a time when the principle of the arch was un
known to the builders. The royal cemeteries of New
Grange and Rathkenny are of this description. *
The space enclosed by the railing does not indicate the
original breadth of the ridge. This can be nearly ascer
tained by adding the Length of the tomb stones that at one
time lay on either side of the railing, to the length of those
in the present enclosure. This gives about nineteen feet,
the probable length of the tombs described by Monro.
Taking the stones in their present order, we note two
outside the railing: At the south end of the ridge a beauti
ful stone, with interlacing bands formed into a peculiar cross,
with sword on the left hand side of the cross (see page 62).
At the north end of the ridge a broad flat stone,
rounded at the ends, with an incised line down the centre
dividing it into two panels, one whole, the other broken
about the centre. The whole panel has two incised crosses,
one plain, expanding slightly at the foot, with a circular
( 1 ) Stokes' Christian Art in Ireland.

42 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
depression in the middle. The other expands at all the
terminations. The cross on the broken panel has all the
parts connected by a circle, making angles where they
intersect All the parts expand towards their termina
tions. This stone,, no doubt, formed part of an altar tomb.
On the east side of the enclosure there is a rough block of
red granite bearing an incised cross, said to be the grave of
a king of France.
Stones within the railing.
I. Plain Stone ; no name, inscription, nor history.
II. This stone, bearing an incised cross intersected at
head, arms, and shaft, by a circle, has an incised inscription
running the long way of the stone, lies near where it did in
Pennant's day. "Among these stones (i.e., the stones in this
ridge) were found two stones with Gaelic inscriptions, and
the form of a cross carved on each. The words on one
were Cros Domhail Fatasich, i.e., the cross of Donald
Longshanks ; the other signified the cross of Urchvine o'
Guin. The letters were those of the most ancient Irish
alphabet." T
Grahame, in his " Stones of lona," reads the inscription
Orar Anmin Eoghain. Orar (he says) stands for the Gaelic
Morar, great man ; Anmin, not explainable ; Eoghain
Ewan ; the great man Ewan. Wilson, in his pre-historic
annals of Scotland, gives or-ar armunn, or armin, and
renders the inscription — a prayer for the chief Eogain, or
Ewan. Drummond reads it or ar anmin, but gives no
translation. The letters are in the old Celtic vernacular, and the
formula is that in general use in Ireland after the 9th
century. Ordo animi Eogain = ordo a contraction for " Oroit do ;"
Oroit the equivalent of the Latin Oratio. The inscription,
therefore, reads, a prayer or pray for the soul of Eogain.
Inscriptions on stones asking the living to pray for the
(1) Pennant.

STONES IN .REILIG ORAIN. 43,
dead are very rarely met with in Ireland before the 10th
century. J
The letters and formula on this stone are of the same
type as the inscription on the high cross of Clonmacnois
and Monasterboice. This stone is one of the four now in
lona having inscriptions n the old Celtic vernacular.
The following particulars may be worth recording :
The inscription incised ; the language is old Celtic ; the
letters are Celtic and not Roman ; the formula is the same
as that on Irish tombstones after the 9th century ; the cross
is incised, and the form of it is contemporary with the form
of the inscription. Mr. Drummond, who figured this stone
in 1870, makes a strange mistake in stating that it had
been removed to Inveraray.
III. Figure of an ecclesiastic, crook turned out; no-
inscription ; traditional name found in an old MS. Aogh
Cammachasach Eugen of the crooked legs.
IV. No name ; no inscription ; rolled moulding ; and
incised line round the face.
V. No name ; no inscription ; rope moulding ;
ornamentation nearly circular, running the whole length of
the stone.
VI. No name, or inscription ; sandstone slab ; rolled
moulding, plain.
VII. No name; rolled moulding on face; dog tooth
round lower edge, small dog tooth on the flat of the stone.
VIII. Ornamental stone with old Celtic bell.
IX. Figure of an ecclesiastic, crook turned in ; two-
carved figures at foot joining hands.
X. Plain moulding ; sacramental cup near the top.
XI. Inscription illegible; altar with cross and cup; two-
figures, one with uplifted hands; the lower and larger panel
is divided into two equal portions by a sword.
XII. Supposed tombstone of Reginald, the founder of
Monastery (see pp. 6^, 64, and also page 25).
(1) Stokes, p. 7.

44 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
XIII. Rope moulding on edge and top.
XIV. Ornamentation in square panel at top ; small
-sword on right side of stone.
XV. Thin slab ; circular design in centre of stone ;
nail head on lower edge and top.
XVI. Much the same design as No. VII.
XVII. Large flat plain stone ; no inscription.
XVIII. Plain moulding; no dog tooth; small sword
in panel on right side.
XIX. Flat plain stone.
XX. Dog tooth on edge ; round moulding ; dog tooth
on upper edge and moulding.
THE RIDGE OF THE CHIEFS.
I. Handsome slab with scalloped edges, and an elegant
sword up the centre.
II. Peculiar cross ; galley and sword on the right side of
the stone.
III. Rolled moulding and circular ornamentation all
•over the stone.
IV. Galleyat top of stone; figure of an armed Highlander
in the centre ; part of the inscription legible " Hie Jacet 
M'Leoid," this stone formerly lay in the Ridge of the
Kings. V. No name or inscription ; probably the tombstone of
a MacLean (see pp. 66, 67), called The Rider.
VI. Almost obliterated ; large circular design almost
covering the whole face of the stone.
VII. Rope moulding; animals at top; the upper part
•of the stone has the circular design, common to many of
the other stones ; the lower part has a lattice pattern unlike
any of the other stones.
VIII. Allan of the Faggots, a well-known Pirate of the
MacLean clan ; a finely carved stone with the figure of a
Galley near the top (see pp. 65, 67).

STONES IN REILIG ORAIN. 4$"
IX. Blemish in centre ; square panel at top with inter
laced Celtic work ; nail head ornament on edge and top
of stone. X. No inscription ; short sword on right side ; no name.
XI. Obliterated ; no name.
XII. Square panel at top with ornament like a number
of the other stones ; sword down the centre ; dog tooth
moulding on upper edge.
XIII. MacLean of Duart (see page 68).
XIV. Tombstone of the Four Priors (see pp. 66-69).
This stone formerly lay in the Ridge of the Kings.
XV. MacLean of Loch Buie.
XVI. MacLean of Coll (see pp. 71-73).
XVII. Galley and stag hunt (see pp. 65-67).
XVIII. A figure on horseback, another figure is playing-
on an Irish harp. Tradition points out this stone as the
tombstone of loin a chinn bhig, John of the little head. It
was a common belief in the olden time that this personage
always appeared when a member of his family was about
to die. A little over fifty years ago a native of the island
declared that he saw loin pass him at MacLean's cross on
his black horse, with his little head under his arm.
XIX. Inscription : — Here lies John Beton, physician to-
the family of the MacLean's, who died 19th November, 1657,
aged 63. Donald Beton made me, 1674.
The motto in the centre is as follows : —
" Behold : he who saved so many others from ills,.
himself falls by the conquering dart of wicked death.
Glory to God alone." The Betons were of Irish descent,.
and famous physicians in Islay and Mull. They were also-
the sennachies or historians of the clan MacLean. This John
Beton was the last of his order.
Stone with Peculiar Cross.
Outside of this enclosure, but in a line with it at the
north end, there is a freestone slab fixed on edge, with an

46 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
incised Irish cross and inscription almost obliterated.
Fifty years ago it lay on the Ridge of the Kings, near the
-old stone (N. 2) already described, and is one of the two
mentioned by Pennant (see pp. 84, 86). Grahame, in his
•" Stones of lona," calls the inscription the " disputed
inscription," and gives the following translation : bx = mor,
"" the great ;" the stroke over the O supplies the place of an M.
Domhail, Donull=li Donald," Fataric = Phadruig, pro
nounced Fataric-=o( Patrick, i.e., the great Donald of
Patrick. There is strong reason (says Grahame) to believe
that this is the fragment of a tombstone placed over
Alexander Macdonald, the second of the Glengary line,
killed in 1461. Others have translated the inscription the
cross of Donald Longshanks. Wilson, in his " Annals,"
remarks, "an older decipherer reads it Cormac Ulphada
hie est situs, indicative of the sepulchre of Cormack
Barbatus, one of the kings of Ireland, buried there A.D.
213." The older decipherer referred to by Wilson is Lord
Buchan, who speaks of long stones having long inscriptions
in the British character. There are no stones answering to
Lord Buchan's description now in this burial place. The
inscription on this stone is similar to the old one on the
Ridge of the Kings, and reads :
Ordo mael Patrick— pray for Maelpatrick.
Clach Brath.
A little off the line of this ridge, and near the edge of
the path that leads to the door of the chapel, lies a broad
flat stone, having a slit in the upper, and a circular cavity
in the lower half of the face. Pennant saw this stone in its
original position, and thus describes it : "A little north
west of the door is the pedestal of a cross ; on it are
certain stones that seem to have been the support of a
tomb. Numbers who visit the' island . . . think it
incumbent on them to turn each of those stones round
according to the course of the sun. They are called clacha-
irath, for it is thought that the brath, or end of the world, will

THE CLACH BRATH. 47
not arrive till the stone on which they stand is worn
through." Sacheverel, governor of Man, who visited lona eighty
years before Pennant, speaks of three noble globes of white
marble placed in three stone basins, and these were turned
round ; and he further adds that the Synod of Argyle
ordered them to be thrown into the sea.
A native of lona has committed to writing his recollec
tion of the stones. " The writer remembers to have seen
lying upon a massive flagstone, which stood at a short
distance from the door of the chapel on the south side,
twelve small free stones, ornamentally shaped, which each
visitor was supposed to turn three times round. These
stones were called clachan brath. They have long
.since vanished." Shortly, the three " noble globes " of
white marble which Governor Sacheverell did not see, were
thrown into the sea by order of the Synod of Argyle. The
stones described by Pennant were evidently substituted
for the originals, and in course of time vanished, we sup
pose, at the command of the Synod of Argyle. The
¦ornamental stones, described by the old Ionian, had long
before 1850 gone the way of their predecessors, without the
permission of the Synod of Argyle. Ultimately, this
peculiar stone itself disappeared, and no trace of it could
be found for many years. When a grave was being opened
about six years ago, the writer identified the stone. It was
found beneath the surface exactly in the same position as
now. An old native present at the time told me that, when
a boy at school, he had often turned round the small stones
that lay in the cavity. These have also vanished, but there
is no record that the Synod of Argyle was ever consulted
about the matter. Quite near the clach brath, on the east
side, there is a stone much worn. In a panel at the top a
small figure can be traced with staff and wallet. Grahame
calls this stone the pilgrim.
There is another old stone beside this one, with a short

48 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
sword on the right side. The pilgrim formerly lay on the
Ridge of the Kings.
ST. ORAN'S CHAPEL,
Is 29 feet X 15 feet X 10 feet, there is no window in the east-
end but there is a small looped window splayed on the
inside on -each side of the altar place. The freestone arch on
the south side is of a much later date than the rest of the
building. The mouldings of the Norman doorway are
sculptured with peculiar ornaments like the heads of animals.
The present chapel no doubt occupies the site of an older
one and is thought by some writers to have been built by
Queen Margaret after Malcolm Canmore became King of
the Isles in 1072. The stones in this building are as
follows: shaft of M'Kinnon's cross with inscription in Latin.
This is the cross of Lachlan Mackinnon and his son John
Abbot of Hy (lona) made in the year of our Lord 1489.
Tombstone of M'Quarrie of Ulva. (See page 72.)
„ „ Irish Cross.
„ „ M'Lean of Grulin.
„ „ Angus Macdonald (who fought with Bruce
at Bannockburn).
„ „ Paul na Sporan.
„ „ Flat stone of Oran (part of a cross).
„ „ Prior Christopher. (See page 74.)
A few other stones large and small the history of which
nothing is known.
THE MONASTERY RUINS.
The western boundary wall of the enclosure ran at one
time between the Abbey Church and Dun na Manaich.
(See page 87.) There are people still living who remember
seeing what is now the public road on the west side of this
hillock, cultivated as part of a field outside the Abbey
enclosure. The old dry built stone wall began where the
surface of the ground is almost level with the present south

THE MONASTERY RUINS.

49

wall, and running northwards through the ruined building,
called the Abbot's House, joined the north wall of the
ir\ — i"TT 1" Ttr*

AouoT'S House

St.MartuVs m

PLAN OF CATHEDRAL.
enclosure where the rocky hillock comes abruptly to a point.
A deep ditch ran parallel to the south wall, the whole length
of the enclosure. We have not been able to ascertain when

50 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
the rocky eminence near the entrance first became associated
with St. Columba's name. In Martin's day it was not even
called Abbot's Mount. The supposition that the monastery
ruins occupied the site of Columba's original monastery,
naturally led to the inference that this hillock was the " little
hill " mentioned by Adamnan as overlooking the monastery,
and which Columba ascended the day before his death.
There are several instances where names have been given
to particular places that were unknown to the old inhabitants
of lona, and the name Abbot's Mount seems to be one of
them. It is hardly necessary to state that none of the
buildings here belong to the far away age in which Columba
erected with wood and wattle the first cathedral of the Isles.
They are not all of the same date, parts of the same building
are often of different dates. On the north side of the Abbey
Church there is a chapel 33 feet in length ; in the field on the
south outside of the enclosure stands an old ruin called St.
Mary's Chapel ; west of the nave and near the reputed Tor
Abb are the remains of another old building ; near the door
of the nave a small oratory, and in the north-east corner of
the enclosure near the boundary wall the foundation of a
large oblong building. The size, orientation, and relative
position of these buildings, indicate that they belong to a
period long anterior to the establishment of the monastery
founded by Reginald in 1203. The most interesting is
perhaps that called Columba's tomb. On the north side of
the entrance to the Cathedral nave, part of the cloister wall
forms the east end of this small oratory. According to tra
dition the tomb on the south side of the altar is the grave of
Columba, that on the north, the grave of his attendant Diar
maid. There are several reasons for thinking that this little
oratory occupies the site of an ancient and famous place of
sepulchre. The beautiful Celtic cross, " decorated in the
purest style of Celtic art," * stands, not in the centre opposite
the altar, but opposite the tomb on the south side of it
(1) Marked A on plan.

THE MONASTERY RUINS. 51
The small enclosure at the west-end is paved with ancient
tombstones, two of which have inscriptions in the old Celtic
vernacular. Its agreement in dimensions and design with
the old Irish type, tends to strengthen the belief that here
stood a building that was old and ruinous ages before the
-foundations of the present Abbey church were laid. The
building may not be part of the first, second, or even third,
stone monastery erected by the " Family of lona," but the
characteristics mentioned mark it as the successor of a stone
building that might have been erected in the beginning
•of the 9th century.
The first wooden monastery was burnt by the Danes in
802. A few years afterwards the Irish monks began to use
stone in the construction of their buildings. The Columban
church at Kells was built in 814 by Cellach, Abbot of lona.
If the ravages of the Danes compelled the Irish monks to
change their building material from wood to stone, their
brethren in lona had the same reason to do likewise. " It
may be assumed " (says Skene) " that when the monastic
buildings were once constructed of stone the monastery
would always be continued in the same place.1
When Diarmaid returned from Ireland with the shrine
of St. Columba after the destruction of the wooden monas
tery by the Danes, a stone building had in all probability
been erected in lona, between the date of the last burning
in 802 and the arrival of Diarmaid in 818, and in this would
be placed the shrine of the founder. In Adamnan's day
Columba's remains had not been moved. When Bede
wrote his history in 735 they were still in the grave that
had been prepared for them 138 years before. A reference
in the Book of Armagh, 72 years after this date, implies that
they had been enshrined and carried to Ireland. In 818 we
have seen that Diarmaid carried back the shrine to lona.
In 825 the Danes again plundered the island, but the
brethren, warned of their approach, hid the shrine in the
(1) Celtic Scotland, Vol. II. p. 299.

52 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
earth and covered it with sods. Blathmach, the prior,
refused to disclose the place where it was concealed, and
the Danes cut him to pieces where he stood. In 878 the
shrine was once more taken to Ireland. From an incident
in the Life of St. Cadroe the shrine seems to have been
again brought back to lona. In 11 27, according to the
popular belief of that time, its resting place was Down-
patrick. Dr. Skene is of opinion that after the martyrdom
of Blathmach in 825, a small oratory was erected over the
spot where the shrine had been concealed, and he thinks
that the traditional tomb of Columba may be that oratory.
Local tradition points to Cladh an Diseart (see plan,
page 87) as the original burial place, and associates the
two upright stones there with Columba's grave. Both
traditions may be true. If the original monastery burnt by
the Danes was near that spot, Columba's grave would most-
likely be there. When the remains were enshrined and a
stone building erected, they would be placed in that. In
this corner once stood a very remarkable stone, the Black
Stone of lona. It may be of interest to note what is said
about it by several visitors to lona. " In a corner are some
black stones held so sacred .... that it was customary
to swear by them, perhaps from their being neighbours to
the tutelar saint whose grave is almost adjacent." * Martin
says the stones were grey and not black. Dr. Johnson
states that the place where they were concealed was said to
be known. Subsequent writers on lona have followed with
more or less faithfulness these inaccurate references. An
Irish tourist who visited lona in 1771, one year before
Pennant, and two before Johnson, refers to the stone as
follows : " Next to Columba's tomb is the Black Stone of
Hy;to swear standing upon it was accounted the most
sacred and binding kind of oath .... it is now sunk
in the earth so that only a part of it can be seen." We
find a description of the Black Stone in the words of on old
(i)- Pennant, Vol. II. p. 303.

THE MONASTERY RUINS. 53
native who saw it when entire. " It was about five feet
.high and flat at the back. On the front was the figure of
a priest in his robes, which bulging out from the stone,
tapered from the shoulder to a point at the top. The stone
was destroyed about a dozen years ago (i.e., 1817) by a mad
fellow who imagined that it would bewitch the inhabitants
if allowed to remain." As this Black Stone (not stones) has
always been associated with the tomb of Columba, it may
very well have been an effigy of the Saint himself. In any
•case the fact of such a stone being in this spot is very
significant, and goes a long way to support the theory that
this was the oratory where the bones of Columba rested,
where Blathmach was buried, into which Magnus, King of
Norway, looked and ordered it to be closed for ever.
St. Martin's Cross (see pp. 79-81).
St. Matthew's Cross.
A block of freestone 6 feet 7 inches in height, and 22
inches in breadth at base.
St. John's Cross.
Opposite the tomb of Columba, 4 feet 1 1 inches, and 2 r
inches broad at base. This is the finest Celtic cross in lona.
Dr. Anderson thinks that there is nothing finer of its kind
in Scotland. " There is also a very interesting fragment of
a cross shaft at lona, which presents no figure subjects, but
is decorated in the purest style of Celtic art, with such
inimitable beauty and intricacy and harmony of design
that I am safe in saying of it that no finer specimen of
art workmanship exists in Scotland." x
Well. No special name. Described by some as the entrance
to an underground passage.
Small stone coffin with cross on the south end called by
the old natives the cradle of the north wind, and in the
guide books, the trough in which the pilgrims washed
their feet. (1) Anderson, p. 79.

54 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
Nave.
Is without aisles, and is about the same breadth as the
choir. The portion of the south wall nearest the tower is
the oldest. So little of the north wall remains that it is
difficult to tell what the design was.
In the angles formed by the north wall and the west
front there is a small irregular apartment, entered by a door
in the interior of the nave. The position of the window or
loop, covering as it does the entrance to the building,.
indicates this small chamber to have been the porter's lodge.
North Transept.
The east wall has the chief characteristics of Norman
architecture. Although the arches leading to this transept
and the one near on the west side of the tower are acutely
pointed, this difference in type need not indicate any
difference in age, as both forms were often united in the
same design by builders of the 12th century. This tran
sept, the lower portion of the tower, and the north wall of
the choir are the oldest parts of the Abbey Church. The
capital of the north pillar has a rude representation of the
temptation. On the pillar on the west side, near the
entrance to the staircase are two figures, the one holding a
pair of scales, the other about to place something in the
scales. The cluster of capitals on the south pillar of the
tower are decorated with various designs. On the capital
facing the choir there is a Latin inscription in Lombardic
characters — " Donaldus Obrolchan made this work." On
the side facing the south transept an animal with two
figures holding it. The figure in front holds what looks
like an axe. The other figure seems to be engaged in some
act of worship. Above is a dog hunting a hare. The
pillar of the semi-circular arch through which the aisle is
entered from the south transept, has a representation of
the expulsion from Eden, •
First Pillar of Pointed Arch.
A man holding some large animal with a rope.

the cathedral. 55
Second Pillar.
The crucifixion, a seated figure with winged figures on
each side, one holding a harp, Peter striking off" Malcus'
ear, an angel weighing souls, the devil trying to depress
one of the scales with his claws.
Third Pillar.
Dragons and other mythical monsters. A figure on
horseback armed with a spear and followed by a footman
with battle axe and helmet.
Choir, North Side.
The two pointed arches on the north side of the choir
have their mouldings covered with the dog-tooth ornament,
and are supported by a circular column with a sculptured
capital. It is difficult to tell what the original intention of
the builder was. There is no evidence in the wall itself that
the base of the column ever rested on the floor of the
building. The door leading to the sacristy is of a much
later date. The arch is semi-circular. The label is
supported by sculptured capitals and corbels.
Abbot M'Kinnon (page 74).
M'Leod of M'Leod (page 80).
Columba's Pillow and Heart-shaped Stone
(page 80).
Neil of the Ross (page 77).
This stone lay at one time on the floor of the choir.
Piscina is of the same material as the sedilia, and
although much defaced by weathering the outlines of winged
figures can be distinctly traced.
Sedilia having been constructed of rough grained sand
stone and exposed to the wind and rain of centuries has
suffered considerably. The main features can, however
be traced. The capitals are sculptured, and differ in design.
The corbel and canopy are decorated with winged figures.
The termination of the labels is decorated with sculptured
heads. Abbot M'Kenzie (see page 77).

56 iona: its history and antiquities.
The Aisle.
The three pointed arches that open to the choir and the
semi-circular one that opens to the south transept, are of
the same age and type (14 cent.). The semi-circular arch
would probably have been pointed like the others had the
height of the roof permitted. The aisle is divided into
three parts by what looks like flying buttresses, but what
are really sections of arches, the lower end resting on
strongly built piers, and the upper butting, or leaning like
props against the arch immediately above the capitals.
The window in the east-end, when entire, was of beautiful
workmanship. The upper half was almost completely filled
in with stone tracery. The lower less ornamental.
MacIan of Ardnamurchan (see pp. 83-85).
The Cloisters
Are entered by the semi-circular moulded doorway
in the west front of the north transept. Of the
four arches in the angles of the cloister, only one is left.
The stone coping on the arch fixes the pitch of the roof.
The single -specimen left of the open arcade of stone
built on the cloister basement, shows that the arches were
pointed. The mouldings are different and one of the
sections has the dog-tooth ornament.
The Chapter House is entered from the cloisters by a
round-headed doorway leading to the vestibule, which
is the same size as the Chapter House. The arches bear a
striking resemblance to the two on the north side of the
choir. The only strongly marked difference between them
is the form of the arch. The choir arches are slightly
pointed, those in the chapter are semi-circular. Both have
the dog-tooth ornament in profusion. The design and
ornamentation of the capitals is almost the same on both.
The four plain arches in the interior and on either side con
taining in their recesses the original stone seats formed no
part of the first building. They were evidently built for
the purpose of supporting the vaulted roof.

THE CATHEDRAL. 57
The wall built over the vaulting at the west end is quite
separate from the older wall, which seems to indicate that
it was built when the arches were inserted.
The Refectory is the largest building belonging to the
monastery proper, and is said to be a good specimen of
thirteenth century work. The lower story is on a level with
the cloister pavement, and is lighted by a looped window.
One entrance to the building was through the ruined door
at the west end of the cloister. The other at the east
angle. Behind this is the kitchen. There is no appearance of
any fire-place: It would very likely be on the middle of
the floor. In the wall of a building facing the south-east
end of the kitchen, those who care to look can see a cross
with a panel on the side. It was built into the wall by the
lovers of ancient art, twenty-five years ago. It is the only
cross of this type in lona.
The Tower
Is seventy-five feet high and inclines in a little
near the top where the parapet begins. The first
story of the tower rose in a single stage above the edge of
the roof with a parapet like the church, and finished at the
top with a steep roof within the parapet with gables towards
the north and south. The stone staircase led to the apart
ment above the arches.
The frame of the north window is square but arched
within, and the label of the arch is slightly decorated with
the dog-tooth ornament. The interior of the east window
is divided into two compartments by a pillar with moulded
capitals and base. The length of the pillar is divided into
equal parts by two moulded bands. These improvements
were made in the fourteenth century. The tower is lighted
on the south side by a window with spiral mullions set in a
square frame.

THE CARVED STONES.
The burial ground of lona is not only the most ancient,
but is the most interesting and extensive of the kind in
Scotland. The precincts of the Nunnery and of St. Oran's
Chapel, with the Cathedral itself, are literally paved with
stones, many of them carved in a most elaborate and
beautiful manner, commemorative of island chiefs and
Celtic ecclesiastics, You never tread upon them, but you set
Your feet upon some reverend history.
In the Reilig Orain or burial ground of St Oran, seem
to have been buried the kings of the Dalriadic Scots ;
historians generally agree that it was a place of royal
sepulture between the great epochs of Kenneth MacAlpine
and Malcolm Canmore ; and till a comparatively late
period, it was the resting-place of many of the Hebridean
chiefs who recognised no law but that of the sword.
While there are many stones of a probably earlier date,
the most interesting, in a general way, are those dating from
about the thirteenth to the early sixteenth century. They
are mostly cut in a tough kind of mica-schist found upon the
island, or when large blocks were necessary, perhaps brought
from the larger neighbouring Island of Mull. Among
elaborate ornamentation appear animals of various kinds,
but whether they are symbolic, family devices, or merely
the vagaries of a wild fancy, it is often impossible to say.
One of the characteristics is the manner in which they are

THE CARVED STONES. 59
introduced, often face to face, with their tails rolling away
into complicated tracery over the whole length of the stone.
The tracery itself is of a style peculiar to the western
districts of Scotland ; the branches either roll along the
whole length of the stone, or twist and curl over and under
each other in vine-like branches bearing single or double
leaves. Frequently the tracery fills a square panel, in
which case the foliage springs from the centre, the design
being based upon the simplest geometrical principles. The
Celtic carver never quite fell in with southern Gothic
design ; a form of the fourteenth and fifteenth century
cusped arch sometimes appears above a figure, but when
ever an approach to the general form has been obtained,
the designer usually wanders back towards the conventional.
style of ornamentation to which he had been accustomed.
The carving is generally very good, and the result nearly
always beautiful.
The full-sized effigies are extremely peculiar ; they are
of a type which is confined to the west of Scotland, being
entirely different from those on the east and other parts of
the country, which are of the same type as those in
England. Here civilisation was slow to penetrate ; the
people had little or no intercourse with the civilised parts
of the kingdom till about the close of the sixteenth century,
and even after that for about a hundred years, only as
fighting men. They led the lives of savage islanders,
following the same customs, wearing the same costume, and
using the same weapons which their ancestors had done for
hundreds of years. Hence, but for some change in the
form of a sword, and the introduction occasionally of
armour of plate, one might date the sculptures at a period
very much earlier than that to which they belong. The
bascinet — or head-piece — which is usually of a similar form,
was that in use towards the end of the thirteenth and in
the following century in the Lowlands and in England ;
the quilted surcoat is peculiar to the Celtic figures ; a spear

¦60 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
is often held in the right hand ; and the sword, an old
form of claymore, is usually placed towards the front instead
of at the side of the figure. At the period to which these
effigies belong, the war equipment which was in vogue in
the south was formed entirely of plate armour, while that
protection only appears here on the knees, legs, and feet.
The frequent appearance of a lymphad, or one masted
galley, was a badge or heraldic device common to many, if
not all, of the island chiefs ; it was differenced for the
various clans or septs by having the sail furled or spread,
without, or with, oars erect or in action, a flag or flame at the
masthead or prow, etc.
With very few exceptions, it is highly probable that
these interesting carvings were the work of local carvers, of
whom there may have been a school or successive families
in lona ; similar stones exist in other localities not very far
distant, such as Dalmally, Ardchattan, and the Islands of
Oronsay, Islay, and Innishail on Loch Awe. In many cases
these may have been executed by carvers from lona, while
it is a well-known fact that up till almost the present time,
•carved grave slabs have been removed from lona and other
places where they were originally placed, and used for
another place of sepulture.
The following examples have been selected as being of
most interest in a general sense, and with a few exceptions
have been measured and drawn from the originals. The
exceptions are taken from Drummond's " Stones of Lona"
and Graham's "Antiquities of Lona',' 'both scarce books, and
the former valuable as well. Since these publications were
issued, much of the finer surface carving on some of the
stones has been considerably worn down.
PRIORESS ANNA.
Part of a slab in very low relief preserved in the
Nunnery. The head rests upon a pillow which is smoothed

THE CARVED STONES.

6l

PRIORESS ANNA.

-62 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
down by two little angels ; a circular mirror and comb are
at the top ; and half-way down the figure are two little
dogs, one at each side — probably emblems of constancy.
The stone, which now measures 4 feet 2\ inches, contained
another figure placed the reverse way, a part of which now
only remains, beneath the feet of which is the inscription,
"' sancta maria ORA pro ME." The stone was entire in
1772, when Pennant drew and described the figure of which
the most part is gone, as " the form of the Virgin Mary,
with head crowned and mitred ; the child in her arms ;
and, to denote her Queen of Heaven, a sun and moon
appear above."
From the design of the stone, it must have originally
lain in a horizontal position, and the remaining part of the
inscription reads " (ter)LETI FILIA QUONDAM PRIORISSA
DE IONA QU^E OBIIT ANO M D° xl°iii° EJUS ANIMAM
ALTISSIMUS COMMENDAMUS." In Pennant's time these
words were preceded by " HIC JACET DOMINA anna
donaldi," reading at length — "Here lies the Lady Anna
(daughter) of Donald M'Tearlach, formerly prioress of Lona,
-who died in the year 154.3, whose soul we commend to the
Most High!1
INTERLACED CROSS, Etc.
This elegantly designed cross may be assigned to the
twelfth century, and lies in the burial ground of St Oran.
On the dexter side of the cross is a lymphad or galley with
a flag projecting from the prow, and on the sinister side is
a sword of very ancient form. Some vestiges of carving
near the prow of the galley, slightly suggest the shape of a
bird, but it is difficult to say whether that is so, or if the
resemblance is merely accidental, and a remnant of the
decoration of the now much worn surface. It measures
about 6 feet in length.
The interlacing of bands or lines is characteristic of

THE CARVED STONES.

INTERLACED CROSS.

CROSS, SWORD, AND
CASKET.

64 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
and common to, both Scottish and Irish Celtic work ; it
appears on the carved powder-horns till quite a recent
period, and is perpetuated till the present day on the hilt
of the Highland dirk. Great attention was given to make
the bands or lines cross over and under each other
alternately, and the designs resulting from an adherence to
this principle, although not artistic, in the sense that they
are more ingenious than fanciful, are often extremely
elegant and pleasing to the eye. The art reached its
highest degree of excellence in the work of the early Irish
illuminators.
CROSS, SWORD, AND CASKET.
This has been one of the most beautiful stones on the
island, and belongs to the thirteenth century. At the top
is a small cross of interlaced work, and at the foot is a
strongly bound box or casket which, according to one
tradition contained the cross sent from the Pope, arid
according to another, from Jerusalem. At the sinister side
of the sword-blade is a band of interlaced work, which,.
although narrower than the blade, may have been intended
for the scabbard. Among the foliated ornament on the
dexter side, near the handle of the sword, there appears
twice the form of a triquetra — a small triangular banded
ornament formed of three curves ; this is one of the most
remarkable ornaments found in Celtic art, and from its
frequent appearance on ecclesiastical antiquities before and
after the tenth century, would appear to have been an
emblem of the Trinity.
The stone, which is nearly 6 feet long, is supposed to
have covered the grave of Ranald, or Reginald, Lord of the
Isles ; he was the son of Somerled, who finished and endowed
Saddel Abbey, which was begun by his father ; * was the
ancestor of all the MacDonalds, called King of Man and
(i) Origines Parochiales.

THE CARVED STONES. 65
the Isles, and was liegeman to John and Henry III. of
England, in 1212 and 121 3.1

GALLEY AND STAG-HUNT.
Attributed to one of the MacLeans, and lies in
Reilig Orain ; the panel at the top belongs to a class of
design appearing on several other stones, such as those of
the Four Priors and Maclan of Ardnamurchan, but not so
well designed ; under this is a lymphad with the sail
unfurled ; and the lower part is filled in with interlaced
bands springing from two animals with their feet against
each other, not carrying out any idea of a pre-conceived or
symmetrical design, but meandering and twisting about
with no other apparent intention than that of filling up a
vacant space. At the foot is a stag attacked by four dogs. It
is about 6 feet long, and is supposed to have covered the
grave of a MacLean who lived between 15 13 and 1542, 2
who was known as Ailean-nan-Sop, or Allan of the Straw,
from the fact that he was born upon straw.3 It is said that
he was the illegitimate son of a chief of the MacLeans of
Duart, his mother being a beautiful girl of the same clan.
She was afterwards married by MacLean of Torloisk, the
boy frequently coming to see his mother : being an object
of dislike to his step-father, the latter one day maliciously
burned the child's hands with some hot cakes prepared for
him by his mother, in order to make him discontinue his
visits. Being active and strong for his years, he embarked
on board one of those piratical vessels which then infested
the western coasts, and in course of time came to be in
command of several ships by which he amassed considerable
plunder. After the death of his mother, he landed on the
island of Ulva with the intention of taking possession of
(1) Dean Howson's Notes on Antiquities of Argyleshire.
(2) Origines Parochiales.
(3) Sop is sometimes translated " faggots '' (Scott). E

66 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
that island from MacQuarrie, but was drawn into partaking
of the hospitality of that chief, who cunningingly reminded
him of the injury done him by his step-father, whereupon
he returned to Torloisk, slew the chief, and took possession
of his castle, where he established a distinguished branch of
the clan.1
THE RIDER.
Lying in Reilig Orain is the slab known as "The
Rider," with a horseman armed with a spear at the top, and
below him another figure on the dexter side, probably an
ecclesiastic, bearing a purse or bag. The inscription, which
was opposite the last figure has long disappeared ; the rest
of the space is occupied by an old form of sword, with an
animal at each side of the handle, and a roll of leaf ornament
at each side of the blade. Stones of this form, narrower at
the foot than at the top, appear usually at an earlier date
than those the same breadth all the way down ; and
although this alone is not absolute proof of a very early date,
yet, taken in conjunction with the ancient form of the sword
and the design of the ornament, the stone may be set down
as belonging to the fourteenth century. The stone is about
6 feet in length.
THE FOUR PRIORS.
This very much defaced stone which lies in Reilig
Orain has been a very beautiful and interesting example.
The inscription, now also much worn away, read — " HIC
JACENT QUATUOR PRIORES DE Y, EX UNA NATIONE,
JOHANNES, HUGONIUS, PATRICIUS, IN DECRETIS OLIM
BACULARIUS, ET ALTER HUGONIUS QUI OBIIT ANNO
DOMINI MILLESIMO QUINGENTESIMO." The stone there
fore belongs to the year 1500, when Hugh the second of
the name, and fourth of these priors died.
(1) Sir Walter Scott. Some other writers say " Duart " instead of
"Torloisk."

THE CARVED STONES.

67

rrP'M

WW 9l

ir-\

•GALLEY AND STAG-HUNT.

THE RIDER.

6S IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
On a narrow space at the top are the figures of a dog-
chasing another animal — probably a hare. The designs on
the panels are of the same class as the one on the stone of
Maclan of Ardnamurchan, and one of them nearly resembles
the carving on a fragment of a cross with the same date in
the priory church of Ardchattan, on Loch Etive.
MACLEAN OF DUART.
This effigy probably belongs to the early part of the i6thi
century. On the top of the helmet is a small plum falling
back over the flat part of the stone, and the sword is of an
older type than this date. The shield is of a peculiar shape,.
different from those on other Scottish effigies, and is partly
held by a strap passing over the shoulders : the bearings
upon it, including the ornamental border, are not treated in
accordance with the laws of heraldry, which at that time
were probably not well known in the Western Islands, but
rather in the earlier form of a mere badge or device, and
represent a winged two-footed animal over an embattled
tower. These bearings do not correspond with the arms
of the MacLeans further than that one of the branches of
the clan is represented in the book of James Esplin,
Marchmont Herald, of 1630, as carrying for crest a tower
embattled argent. The stone measures 6 feet 1 1 £ inches by
27! inches; it has no inscription, and lies in Reilig Orain.
The Duart Macleans were the most powerful and
distinguished of the clan, and the most prominent in the
history of Scotland ; their principal stronghold was Duart
Castle, the ruins of which still exist, overlooking the Sound
of Mull on the north-east part of that island. The MacLean
of Duart was one of two or three western chiefs with whom
King James IV. held frequent communication, and endeav
oured by means of grants of money and land to secure their
influence and help in reducing their fellow chieftains to
obedience. An earlier head of the house was slain at the

THE CARVED STONES.

69

W>^

^0/HWi mm.nvim (((o)jy
THE FOUR PRIORS.

70 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
ferociously contested battle of Harlaw in 141 1, when Donald
of the Isles invaded the north of Scotland. About the year
1439 Lauchlan MacLean, who was notorious for the spoils
and the murders which he committed, broke into the main
land, and with Murdoch Gibson carried fire and sword into-
the heart of Lennox where he slew the Colquhoun of Luss_
The probable date of the stone may correspond with.
that Lauchlan, known as Lauchlan Cattanach, who led the
MacLeans at Flodden in 15 13, from which he returned to-
his island lair to organise a rebellion in the Highlands. He
was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Archibald, second
Earl of Argyle. The tradition is, that owing to quarrels,.
he determined to get rid of her, and caused her to be placed
on a rock at low tide so that she might be drowned. From
this rock, known as the Lady's Rock, between Lismore and
Mull, she was rescued by some passing boatmen, and taken
to her brother ; this led to the assassination of the MacLean
in Edinburgh.1 His successor, Hector, was one of the
chiefs seized as hostages for their better behaviour when
King James V. led his fleet along the coast to overawe the
islanders. In 1 594, when the Isles could fit out six thousand
men, two thousand of whom were clad in armour, all hardy-
fierce fighters, Lauchlan MacLean was second in command
under Argyle at the battle of Glenlivat, where by his colossal
stature and great strength he was conspicuous as he fought.
in the then old fashioned shirt of mail with a double edged
Danish battle-axe. This chief, known as Lauchlan Mor,.
was said to have had no equal in war and prowess ; he was
nurtured in the Lowlands, was a man of some education,
and was in treaty with Queen Elizabeth to assist her in the
Irish war. Although she demurred at the funds, he assisted
her ' so far, that when the fleet of Clan Ranald halted at
Mull on its passage, by " bauld onset and pratty feit of
weir," he seized the ships and imprisoned the men. He was
treacherously slain by a nephew in Isla in 1598.2
(1) Gregory's History of the Highlands, etc. jt
(2) Ty tier's History of Scotland.

THE CARVED STONES.

MACLEAN OF COLL.

The costume of this figure is peculiar to, and character
istic of, those of the Isles and Western Highlands of
Scotland. The bascinet for the protection of the head,
although appearing as pointed, takes the form of a ridge
passing over the top of the head ; the' tippet of mail,
attached to the bascinet, protects the neck, upper part of the
breast, and the shoulders ; the body and arms are protected
by a thick quilted surcoat ; and the legs and feet are armed
with greaves and sollerets of plate. The claymore is of an
older style of weapon than the date of the figure, is such as
could be wielded by one hand, and is something of the
same form as one still preserved by the Coll MacLeans
which they believe to have belonged to the founder of the
family.1 The latter weapon is of a more elegant shape,
has a quatrefoil at each extremity of the guard, and is
about two inches shorter than the one represented on the
stone. An inscription formerly on the raised surface at
each side of the head has long been obliterated : but it may
be assigned to the late fifteenth century. The stone
measures 6 feet n inches in length, and lies in Reilig
Orain. The island which gives name to this branch of the
MacLeans lies farther north than lona. It was forfeited
by John, Lord of the Isles, Earl of Ross, in 1475, afterwards
restored, and finally forfeited in 1493. Early in the fif
teenth century, Alexander, Earl of Ross, appears to have
granted the lands and barony of Coll to John, styled Garve,
son of Lauchlan MacLean of Duart, who was the founder
of the family. The Castle of Coll was called " Breacha " —
the spotted field.2
Another stone in Reilig Orain very similar to this, is
attributed to a MacLaine of Loch Buie ; the differences
(1) Figured in The Book of the True Highlanders.
(2) Origines Parochiales.

72 , IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
consist of the bascinet being rather less pointed, the right
hand buckles the sword to the belt, the pommel of the
sword is leaf-shaped, the surface of the slab is less decorated,
and it is about seven inches shorter. It is evidently of
about the same period as that of the Coll MacLean's.
MACQUARRIE OF ULVA.
This elaborately carved effigy is in the chapel of St.
Oran. At each side of the head grotesque animals appear ;
at his right side are two hounds running, and lower down
at his left foot another is shown attacking a stag. The flat
part of the stone has doubtless been covered with carving,
and the inscription at his head has long been illegible.
The shield bears a lymphad with furled sail, and a flag of
three points near the prow over two grotesque animals,
within a bordure. The bascinet protects the sides of the
head as far down as the nose, and has a dip at the centre of
the forehead slightly suggestive of the very ancient form of
the nasal. The camail, or mail tippet, has been very
carefully carved, and shows a different and finer method of
expressing the rings forming the mail, than has been
resorted to in the other figures ; the quilted surcoat has
double sleeves, and the hand is guantleted — probably with
leather. The animal at the feet is destroyed, but the portion
remaining is more suggestive of a lion than a dog, which
appears on some of the others. The stone measures 6 feet
8 inches in length, and belongs to the late fifteenth, or early
sixteenth century.
The MacQuarries — the Clan Guarie — do not appear to
any great extent in Scottish history ; they possessed the
island of Ulva and some neighbouring lands from about the
middle of the fifteenth century, and the first of the clan of
whom any authentic mention is made was one John, who
died in 1473. He had a son named Dunslaff of Ulva, who
is mentioned as chief of the clan in 1493 ; in 1553 the lands

THE CARVED STONES.

73

MACLEAN OF COLL.

MACQUARRIE OF ULVA.

74 IONA: ITS .HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
of " Ulway " were granted by Queen Mary to Hector
MacLean of Duart ; and a Gillespick MacQuarrie of Ulva
appears in 1609. The chief of the clan was one of those
who rendered their submission, and was received into the
royal favour when King James IV. tried to over-awe the
district by a display of his strength in these then remote
and dangerous waters.
A PRIOR.
This slab which is in the chapel of St. Oran, has the
head three inches in relief, and the other parts from three
quarters to one inch. A chalice is above the figure on the
dexter side, over which is a four footed beast, winged and
horned, probably intended for a dragon. The inscription,
which is now almost obliterated, is " HIC JACET FRATER
CHRISTI MACGILLRESCOL QUONDAM PRIOR DE Y CUIUS
ANIME PROPIETUR DEUS." On the side or profile of the
head, where the stone is tolerably perfect, the standing up
collar is rather prettily ornamented. It is 5 feet 5f inches
in length. This stone was at one time carried away and utilised for
a more recent grave on the island of Mull ; this was not an
uncommon occurrence in the islands and parts of the
Highlands, the idea being thatthe gravestone of an individual
was to some extent the common property of descendents,
or members of the same clan. There are instances of this
in quite recent years, the inscriptions or ornaments being
chiselled away to make room for new lettering.
ABBOT MACKINNON.
This effigy lies within the Cathedral. The mitred head
rests upon double cushions, beside which are vestiges of two
little angels — one at each side. The upper surface and the
more exposed side of the figure are much defaced, but the
side near the wall, which, from its position is in a better

THE CARVED STONES.

75

A PRIOR

ABBOT MACKINNON.

76 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
state of preservation, quite justifies the assertion that it has
been a work of art of a high quality. The mitre has been
richly decorated, and is of the kind known as pretiosa, which
was only worn at high feasts. The elevation at the head of
the figure shows part of an angel rising from the cleft of the
mitre, tasseled cushions, a dove flying upwards, and parts of
the wings and skirts of the two small angels.
The inscription, which is very beautifully carved in
-Mediaeval capitals, all along the vertical edge is as follows: —
•"HIC JACET JOHANNES MAC FINGONE ABBAS DE Y QUI
OBIIT ANNO DNI MILLESIMO QUINGENTESIMO
CUIUS ANIME PROPITIETUR ALTISSIMUS DEUS AMEN."
From the fact that there is a blank space after the word
quingentesimo, it may be inferred that the monument was
sculptured in the life-time of the Abbot, by his own
directions, which was not an unusual thing to do, and a
blank space left for the precise date which was never added.
It will be observed that the space remaining at the end of
the inscription is filled in with ornamentation, and that even
the intervals between the words are decorated with small
•ornaments, so that it is extremely improbable that a blank
space would be left at the place where it occurs, unless for
this purpose.
Comparing this figure with others of a similar kind in
Scotland, such as those at Fortrose, Elgin, Dunkeld, etc., so
far as the vestments of the clergy were altered or modified
at different periods, it corresponds in the form of the mitre,
¦etc., with those of the same date. This is no doubt due to the
fact that there must have been frequent intercourse between
the clergy of lona and those of other places, at a time when
the wild island chiefs seldom travelled so far from their
strongholds as to come in contact with their contemporaries,
beyond the limits within which the savage Celts held sway.
The quality of the carving and the style of design on the
small portions of ornament remaining on the stone, unmis
takably point to the work having been done, not by a Celtic

THE CARVED STONES. 77-
carver such as executed nearly all the other effigies and
stones, but by one thoroughly familiar with Gothic carving-
of a high character, and who had been probably brought
here for the purpose.
In 1492, John, Abbot of lona, was one of the Council of
John, Lord of the Isles, and witnessed a charter, by that
lord and his nephew, the lord of Lochalsh in favour of John
MacGilleon of Lochbuie. He was the last Abbot of lona,.
and appears to be the same John, Bishop of the Isles, in
whose favour the abbey was soon afterwards annexed to
the bishopric.1
The stone, which measured 6 feet 5 inches by 23J
inches, was probably, on account of its size, brought from
the near island of Mull, and is a mixed mica-schist and
hornblende. Lying opposite to this, is a somewhat similar effigy
which is attributed to Abbot Kenneth Mackenzie, but in a
very dilapidated and defaced condition ; he was probably a
relative of the Kenneth Mackenzie of Kintail, whose effigy
in armour lies in Beauly Priory.

MACLEAN OF ROSS OF MULL.
This stone, which lies within the Cathedral, has been
one of the most characteristic effigies on the island, and
from the presence. of the long curly beard has evidently
been an effort at a correct portrait of the island chief. The
shield bears a lymphad with the sail furled, under which
is a lion rampant ; a sword, of a form much earlier than
the probable date of the figure, is thrust behind the belt
to which it is, also attached ; the lower limbs are protected
by knee-pieces, ridged greaves, and sollerets ,with straps
for spurs. The feet rest upon a hound, a place which, in
the effigies of the Lowlands of Scotland, is almost invariably
(1) Origines Parochiales.

78 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.

MACLEAN OF ROSS OF MULL.

ST. MARTIN'S CROSS. 79
occupied by a lion often clutching a lamb, and where a dog
is usually placed on the effigies of ladies.
A very peculiar feature, difficult to account for, is the
presence of an object hanging at his right side, partly over
the shaft of the spear ; from its form it has been guessed to
be a shell for drinking from, which might also be used as a
hunting horn. There is precedent for the latter supposition
on an effigy in Bute, of a much earlier date, where a hunting
horn is carried in the same place, and it may be noted that
horns used in the chase sometimes had a moveable piece
inserted at the narrow end, thus enabling the wearer to use
it as a drinking vessel.
The figure is traditionally associated with " Niall an
Roiss " who was the head of a family of MacLeans, which
was known as sliochd a claidimh iaruin, or the Race of the
Iron sword.1 It probably belongs to the late fifteenth
century, and measures 6 feet 6 inches in length.
ST. MARTIN'S CROSS.
Of the once numerous high crosses which were said to
have existed only two now remain entire, that which is
commonly known as MacLean's, standing on the roadside
between the Nunnery and the Cathedral, and the other
known as St. Martin's in front of the Cathedral, about
fourteen feet high including the base. On each of these
¦crosses, one side is covered with ornamentation, and the
•other with animals and figures mostly connected with the
Scriptures, the central part of this cross being occupied by
a figure of the Holy Virgin and Infant.
The high cross was not a sepulchral monument ; it was
dedicatory, or commemorative, and examples are to be found
in the Isle of Man, England, Wales, and very numerously
in Ireland. While these have a general resemblance to each
other, a close examination shows that they differ to some
(i) Graham's Antiquities of lona.

8o IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
extent from each other, sufficiently to show that they are
not imitations of one another, but rather the local
developments of a style of sculpture pervading these
countries from the tenth to the fifteenth century. Of the
two crosses here referred to, MacLean's belongs to a period
later than the twelfth century, and that of St. Martin
considerably earlier — the key to their age being given by
those inscribed Irish crosses of a similar style, whose dates
have been ascertained.
TWO BOULDERS.
Figure I is a boulder of granite, with an incised cross,,
measuring twenty inches in length, which was found within
twenty yards of the spot where Columba is supposed by some
to have been buried. It has been suggested that it may have
been used as a pillow by the Saint, from the statement made
by Adamnan that he slept upon a slab, using a stone also
as a pillow.
Along with this there is another boulder (fig. 2) preserved
in the Cathedral, of nearly the same size, which was found
in an outhouse behind the manse.
MACLEOD OF MACLEOD.
Lying on the ground, within the area of the Cathedral,
is a slab of hard, bluish grey stone, on which the contour of
a figure is hollowed, with a border. It formed the matrix
of what was probably a brass inlay — tradition says silver —
but the metal has long been removed. It has been one of
the only two examples, on the island, of figures in Lowland
armour, and is probably unique in Scotland in so far that
the whole figure and the border have been formed of a,
different material from the stone. The general design is
that common to monumental brasses, of which no early
examples are known in Scotland ; and the form of the

THE CARVED STONES.

ST. MARTIN'S CROSS.

82

IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.

figure is here shewn as it probably appeared when complete,
the restoration having been made from an incised slab at
Creich in Fifeshire, dated 1400, the contour of the figure
being very similar. It is remarkable that among the effigies

MACLEOD OF MACLEOD.

of the island chiefs, this, and other three of the MacLeods
of the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the
sixteenth centuries, at Rodel in Harris, are among the very
few Western effigies showing the contemporary armour of

THE CARVED STONES. 83
the periods to which they belong ; from this it might be
inferred that the chiefs of this clan had more intercourse
than the others with the more cultured parts of Scotland.
The border would, of course, contain an inscription.
There were two septs of this once powerful clan. Leod,
the progenitor, had two sons — Torquil and Tormaid ; the
Siol Torcuil possessed the islands of Lewis, Cogeache, and
Assint ; the Siol Tormid possessed Dunvegan in Skye,
Harris, and Glenelg.1 Torquil MacLeod's castle of
Stompway was stormed by the Earl of Huntly, and he was
xitterly destroyed in 1506. The MacLeod of Dunvegan
fought at Flodden, from whence he returned to his island
lair, and with MacLean of Duart, organised a rebellion
against King James V.
This is the largest carved stone on the island, and
measures 7 feet g\ inches by 3 feet 10 inches.
MAC IAN OF ARDNAMURCHAN.
This slab, which is broken into eight pieces bedded in
cement is in the aisle of the Cathedral. The centre is occupied
by a lymphad with the sail spread, and above it two figures
in canopies. The inscription round the border is, " HIC
JACET JOHANNES MACCEAIN DOMINUS DE ARDNAMURCHAN
ET MARIOTA MACCEAIN SOROR EIUS SPONSA MACOLINI
MACDUFFIE DOMINI DE DUNEVIN IN COLONSE HANC
LAPIDEM EMIT SUO FRATRI."
Of the two figures, that to the right is more suggestive
of a female than a male figure, although the drawing by the
late Mr. Drummond (Stones of Lona) made when the stone
would be in a better condition than now, shows it as a man
with mail tippet and staff in his hand in front of the skirt.
The figure to the left, unlike most of the other Hebridean
effigies, is clad in the armour worn in the Lowlands in the
middle of the fifteenth century. He holds a spear in his
(1) Graham's Antiquities of lona.

84 IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
right hand, and his left is covered by a small circular object
— possibly a small shield or warder, such as were in use by
swordsmen for the purpose of catching the stroke of an
adversary, and sometimes so made as to snap the sword-
blade ; the smallest size of such a warder on record, is about
8 inches in diameter, but here it is proportionally less. The
complete stone is 6 feet 2 inches by 24J inches, and dates
about 1500 or a few years later.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the chief of
the Maclans was one of those who were rewarded by King
James IV. for sending emissaries regarding the state of the
Isles; in 15 15, John, Duke of Albany, appointed him his
commissioner for reducing the inhabitants of parts of the
Isles to obedience, and he was one of those who hastened to
join the King's banner when it was unfurled on " Flodden's
fatal field."
The Maclans held the castle of Mingarry, and were a
clan of the MacDonalds, descended from Ian (John),, a
grandson of Angus Og, Lord of the Isles. A long standing
feud existed between them and Donald of Lochalsh who
aimed at recovering the principality of the Isles. About
1 5 18, this Donald, with the MacLeods and Alexander of
Islay, attacked the Maclans at Craiganairgid in Morven,
when the chief and his two sons were slain. In 1625, the
clan Ian of Ardnamurchan disappeared as a tribe, partly
merging into others, and the name is only found in the fast
fading tradition of the West Highlands.1
INCISED CROSS (with Inscription).
This fragment is so completely defaced as to be almost
unrecognisable ; its form, however has been preserved . in
Graham's " Antiquities of lona."
From the fragment of the inscription it is often supposed
to have marked the grave of Alexander MacDonald, second
(1) Gregory's History of the Highlands.

THE CARVED STONES.

85

MAC IAN OF ARDNAMURCHAN.

86

IONA: ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.

of the Glengarry line, slain in the fifteenth century. In
support of this, the contraction "or" was read mor — or
great ; " donnail " Donnul or Donald ; and " fataric "
Phadruig or Patrick.
This stone, however, appears to be of much greater
antiquity. The shape of the cross is distinctly of an early
Irish type ; the form of the lettering corresponds with that
on the base of the high cross of Tuam, and on other Irish
work known to be of the tenth and eleventh centuries.1

INCISED CROSS (WITH INSCRIPTION).

The formula " Or do " — oroit representing the Latin sub
stantive Oratio, is also that appearing on Irish work after
the tenth century.
As it is stated that Maol Patrick O'Banan, Bishop of
Conor and Down, " a venerable man, full of sanctity, meek
ness, and purity of heart," died in lona in 1174,2 it is not
improbable that this stone marked the spot in which he was
buried. The inscription would therefore read — "or do
Maol Patrick," — a prayer (or pray) for Maol Patrick.
The fragment measures 2 feet 6 inches in length.
(1) Margaret Stokes' Early Christian Art in Ireland.
(2) Origines Pat ochiales.

APPENDIX.

H

30ULDl^

CLADH/ftN IM3EART

^Supposed site
of Columba's cell
clll-ma- ghobhmjn ain

t

0RTANXI5EART

6

K
^= = -..L_MtlJ.STBEANI  ,_ , „
Tobar-\-Cheathaln r—\ S- eaarv's Chapel
SITE OF ORIGINAL MONASTERY.
There are a few particulars recorded by Adamnan that help to
fix, with a fair degree of certainty, the boundary of his monastery,
and the relative position of the buildings it enclosed. He speaks
88 APPENDIX.
of an enclosure that surrounded the monastery, and calls it a
vallum, i e., a rampart of mixed earth and stones. For the same
brother going outside the fence (vallum). * The rampart of
mixed earth and stones, that begins at the mill-stream and runs
parallel to the public road, intersecting it near the house called
Clachanach, enclosing on the north-east the sloping ground
between it and the sea, is no doubt what he refers to. It is the
only well defined and important earthwork in lona, and is of
much the same construction as the ramparts surrounding primitive
monastic establishments in Ireland. He relates that "Ernani
uncle of Columba, had come from Himba to visit the Saint.
Columba, hearing of his arrival, went to meet him. But while
there was a space of about five and twenty paces between them,
he, being overtaken by sudden death, and before the Saint could
look upon his face in life, breathed his last and fell to the earth —
wherefore in the place a cross has been fixed in before the door of
the kiln, and another cross stands in like manner fixed in where
the Saint stood still when Ernan died." 2 From this we learn
that there was a kiln between Columba's cell and the harbour,
and that a cross was set up at the door of the kiln, and another
about five and twenty paces distant. The remains of a kiln were
found on the site indicated in the plan. Tradition records that
two large crosses stood near where they are indicated (see plan)»
and their site was known by the name of Na Crossan More-
The ruins of what was called the barn were to be seen in Martin
and Pennant's time. The mill from which the stream takes its
name would be somewhere near the barn and kiln. Adamnan
does not say that there was any special building connected
with his monastery used exclusively as a mill, and although he
mentions millstones, it does not follow that these were turned by
water power in a building used only for that purpose. There is
no building set apart for the use of the old-fashioned hand quern
still used in remote parts of the Highlands. The grinding is
done by hand, either in the barn or other outhouse, and is, beyond
doubt, a survival of the custom that prevailed in Adamnan's day.
Of one thing we may be sure, that the kiln would be near the
(i) Adam.', Bk. II., Chap. 29.
(2) Adam., Bk. I., Chap. 45.

APPENDIX. 89
barn, and when water power was afterwards introduced, the mill
would be continued near the same place. In other places there
might be reasonable doubt regarding the site of a mill ; here there
can be none, as the stream near the kiln is the only, one in the
Island that could be used to turn a water-wheel.
On the last day of his life Columba, with his attendant, went
to visit the barn, which Adamnan tells us was close at hand.
"After this the Saint goes out of the barn, and, returning to the
monastery, sits down at the halfway, in which place a cross,
afterwards fixed in a millstone, and standing at this day, is to be
seen in the side of the road." J This was, no doubt, the cross
infixa est on the spot where Columba stood many years before,
and alter his death, molari infixa lapidi, as the memorial of a
greater event than the death of Ernan. This cross was 25 paces
from the door of the kiln where the other cross had been erected,
and half-way between the barn and the monastery. The place
half-way between the barn and the monastery would, therefore,
be near the very small hillock in the east side of the road, and
marked A on the plan of old sites. Columba's cell would be
near Clachanach. Adamnan relates that Columba had once a
conflict with demons among the bushes (in saltibus) or
woodland pasture. Behind Clachanach there is a level stretch
of land, well protected from the prevailing winds, in which the
remains of small trees have been found. The pathway that cuts
through the Lochan More at the south end of this level tract, was
at one time lined with a double row of birch trees. The
probability is that all this uncultivated land was at one time
covered with birch and hazel. The east side of the island is the
only side that affords the necessary protection for such trees
whose number and size might be called a wood.
The little hill overlooking the monastery was either the one
marked B or the unnamed one immediately behind Clachanach.
In any case, the semi artificial elevation within the cathedral
enclosure is not the Torr Abb of Adamnan; but Dun Na Manaich.
Culdee Cell, a mile west of the cathedral. Turn off by gate
at thatched house near the mill stream, and cross the Lochan
More by the road called Iomarie ta Chuir.
(1) Adam., Bk. III., Chap. 23.

90 APPENDIX.
Angel Hill, called in the vernacular Sithean More. There
was, not so very long ago, a circle of standing stones on the top
of this hillock. They have been used for other purposes.
Port a ¦ Churraich, first landing place of Columba. At the
head of this beach there is a grass mound sixty feet long, which
tradition records as the length of Columba's currach, and the
place where he buried it when he came ashore. Last summer
a section of it was dug to the depth of five feet, but nothing
whatever was found.
Port Larraichean (west of Port a Curraich). Six large stone
circles. The beach has been raised as if for the purpose of
defence. Cam cul ri Eirrim, a short distance north-west of Port
Larraichean.

91

FAREWELL TO IONA
I.
Shrined among their crystal seas —
Thus I saw the Hebrides :
All the land with verdure dight ;
All the heavens flushed with light ;
Purple jewels 'neath the tide ;
Hill and meadow glorified ;
Beasts at ease, and birds in air;
Life and beauty everywhere !
Shrined amid their crystal seas —
Thus I saw the Hebrides.
II.
Fading in the sunset smile —
Thus I left the Holy Isle;
Saw it slowly fade away,
Through the mist of parting day ;
Saw its ruins, grim and old,
And its bastions bathed in gold,
Rifted crag and snowy beach,
Where the seagulls swoop and screech,
Vanish, and the shadows fall,
To the lonely curlew's call.
Fading in the sunset smile —
Thus I left the Holy Isle..
III.
As Columba, old and ill,
Mounted on the sacred hill,

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Raising hands of faith and prayer,
Breathed his benediction there, —
Stricken with its solemn grace", —
Thus my spirit blessed the place :
O'er it while the ages range,
Time be blind and work no change !
On its plenty be increase !
On its homes perpetual peace !
While around its lonely shore
Wild winds rave and breakers roar,
Round its blazing hearths be blent
Virtue, comfort, and content !
On its beauty, passing all,
Ne'er may blight nor shadow fall !
Ne'er may vandal foot intrude
On its sacred solitude !
May its ancient fame remain
Glorious, and without ' a stain ;
And the hope that ne'er departs,
Live within its loving hearts !
IV.
Slowly fades the sunset light,
Slowly round me falls the night :
Gone the Isle and distant far
All its loves and glories are :
Yet for ever, in my mind,
Still will sigh the wand'ring wind,
And the music of the seas,
'Mid the lonely Hebrides.
Sept. 1894. William Winter,
Author of "Shakespeare's England."
"Gray Days and Gold,"
"Old Shrines and Ivy," etc.

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