IONA, or ICOLMKILL, an island, of the Hebrides, and
a quoad sacra parish, in the parish of Kilfinichen,
district of Mull, county of Argyll; the quoad sacra
parish containing 1084 inhabitants, of whom 460 are on
the island, and the remainder in that part of the quoad
sacra parish which is in the Isle of Mull. lona, which
is situated to the south-west of the Isle of Mull, in the
Atlantic Ocean, is of remote antiquity; and, at a very
early period, was the principal seat of the Druidical worship,
from which circumstance it obtained the appellation
of Inish-Druinish, or the " Island of Druids". It was
subsequently occupied by the ancient Culdees, for whom,
it is recorded, Fergus II. erected a monastery and a
stately church, which became the burying-place of many
of his successors, kings of Scotland. Its name lona,
signifying, in the Gaelic language, the " Island of Waves",
appears to have been derived from the violent agitations
of the narrow sound that separates it from Mull; that
of Icolmkill, by which it is not uncommonly known,
arose from the foundation of a religious establishment
by St. Columba, about the middle of the sixth century.
St. Columba, emigrating from Ireland, for the conversion
of the natives of the Hebrides to the Christian faith,
landed here with twelve of his companions in the year
563, and having converted many of the northern Picts
to Christianity, received from their king a grant of the
island, on which he founded a monastery for canons
regular of the order of St. Augustine. This monastery,
which was amply endowed, flourished under the superintendence
of its founder, and acquired such reputation for
sanctity and learning as to obtain for the isle the appellation
of the Holy Island, and to render it the resort of
pious and learned men from Ireland, Norway, and all
parts of Scotland, for which it was the principal school of
theology and philosophy.
St. Columba presided over the monastery he had
founded till his death in the year 597, at which time his
zeal for the propagation of Christianity had prompted
him to found, in various parts of Britain, 100 monasteries
and 365 churches, and to ordain not less than 3000
priests. The island hence became the grand centre from
which the truths of the Christian religion, and the benefits
of sound learning, were diffused to every portion of
the kingdom; and after the death of St. Columba, the
monastery continued to flourish under his successors,
and was held in such veneration, that the island was
regarded as consecrated ground, and became the burying-
place of many of the kings of Ireland and Norway.
From this monastery, which was independent of the
papal jurisdiction, and in which, under St. Columba and
his successors, the principles and discipline of the Culdees
were retained, Oswald, King of Northumbria, in 63'2
obtained a bishop to teach his subjects the principles of
Christianity; and in 765 Neil Frasach, King of Ireland,
abdicated the sovereigntj', and retired to this island,
where he died. In 777 Asglal, son of the King of Connaught,
became a monk of lona, which was still, and
continued for many years, the principal university of
Britain. To this celebrated institution the young
princes of Scotland and other kingdoms were sent to
receive their education. The monastery became subject
to the predatory incursions of the northern pirates, by
whom it was frequently plundered and laid waste; and
in 797 it was burnt by the Danes, who, again, in 801
massacred nearly eighty of the monks, and compelled
the abbot and the rest to seek safety by flight. At a subsequent
period, the monastery of lona is recorded to have
been refounded for monks of the Cluniac order, under
whose superintendence it subsisted till the Dissolution;
its revenues were then appropriated to the see of Argyll,
and, after the abolition of episcopacy, became the
property of the dukes.
Of the ancient buildings connected with the monastery,
the principal remains are those of the abbey church,
which was also the cathedral of the bishops of the Isles,
and, with its tower, is almost entire. It is a cruciform
structure of red granite, chiefly in the Norman style, 160
feet in length, seventy feet across the transepts, and
twenty-four feet in mean breadth, with a tower rising
from the centre to the height of seventy feet. The choir,
which is sixty feet in length, is divided from the nave by
massive circular pillars, supporting the tower, and the
capitals of which are sculptured with grotesque figures.
displaying scriptural allusions and other devices. The
nave and choir are separated from the aisles by ranges
of pillars of similar form, and obtusely-pointed arches,
sustaining the roof; and are lighted by a lower tier of
large windows of various character and inelegant design,
and by a range of clerestory w indows, some of which are
Norman, and others headed in trefoil. The high altar,
of marble brought from the Isle of Skye, unfortunately
acquired the reputation of possessing a charm against
shipwreck, and has totally disappeared by fragments.
Around the cathedral are divers ruins of walls, supposed
to have been chapels, and parts of the monastic buildings;
four of the arches of the cloister are still remaining, and
portions of the bishop's palace, the hall, and the refectory.
On the south side of the cathedral are the remains of
St. Oran's chapel, a rude edifice sixty feet in length, and
twenty-two feet broad, in a roofless state, but otherwise
in good preservation: the sculpture of the doorway,
which is a Norman arch with chevron mouldings, is especially
worthy of attention. In the chapel are various
tombs of diflFerent periods, among which is that of St.
Oran, the disciple of St. Columba, a handsome monument,
apparently of much more recent date than the chapel.
On the north of this chapel are the ruins of the Nunnery,
or rather the chapel of the Nunnery, a structure in the
Norman style, nearly of the same dimensions as the chapel
of St. Oran; part of the vaulted roof is still remaining,
and there are some very slender traces of the conventual
buildings. The tombstone of the Princess Anna, lady
abbess, is yet to be seen; it bears the date 1543, and
presents a figure of the abbess, in the attitude of prayer
to the Virgin Mary, who has an infant in her arms, and
a mitre on her head.
To the south of St. Oran's chapel is the inclosure
called " Relig-Owran", or " the burying- place of Oran",
in which are a vast number of tombs, overgrown with
grass and weeds, and mostly so defaced as to render the
inscriptions on them altogether illegible. In this cemetery
it is said that one of the kings of France, four kings
of Ireland, eight kings of Norway, and forty-eight kings
of Scotland, are interred, the last commencing with Fergus
II. and ending with Macbeth, whose successor,
Malcolm Canmore, removed the place of royal sepulture
to Dunfermline. The precincts of the cemetery, which
contained also the tombs of the lords of the Isles, and of
the most distinguished families, had the privilege of
sanctuary; and in various parts of the island were not
less than 360 crosses of stone, of which four only are
now left. At the time of the Reformation, the synod of
Argyll ordered sixty of these crosses to be thrown into
the sea; and the remainder appear to have been either
wantonly destroyed, or suffered to fall from neglect. Of
those that remain, two are in a perfect state, one of which
is sculptured with figures of Adam and Eve, standing by
the forbidden tree; a third has only ten feet of the shaft,
and of the fourth the foot only is left, embedded in a
mound of earth. In order to preserve all these venerable
remains from further injury, they have been inclosed
with walls by the Duke of Argyll, and placed under
the vigilant superintendence of a keeper. During Her
Majesty's visit to Scotland in 1847, the royal squadron
anchored in the Sound of lona, and His Royal
Highness Prince Albert proceeded to view the ruins.
The ISLAND is about three miles in extreme length,
and a mile and a half in average breadth, comprising an
area of 2000 acres, of which not more than 600 are
arable, and the remainder hill pasture, rock, or morass.
Its surface rises into eminences, the highest of which,
Dnn-ii, has an elevation of 400 feet above the level of
the sea. The coast on the eastern side is low and sandy,
and is indented with a bay, called the Bay of Martyrs, in
which were landed the bodies of such as were intended
for interment in the cemetery. This bay, which affords
good anchorage in five fathoms, within two cables' length
of the shore, is frequented by steamers conveying passengers
to visit the island; and near it is the vdlage,
containing about 170 persons. On the western shore of
the isle is Port-na-Currach, or the "bay of the boat",
where St. Columba is said to have landed, in commemoration
of which event a heap of earth, about fifty
feet in length, was thrown up in the form of a boat, with
the keel upwards. Numerous small springs of excellent
water intersect the island; and near the abbey gardens
are vestiges of an artificial lake of several acres, surrounded
by hills; also the ruins of a mill. The soil of
the arable land is light and sandy, but fertile, producing
favourable crops; several of the hills are arable to their
summit, and in good cultivation, and most of the others
afford excellent pasture. Marble of good quality was
formerly wrought, and considerable quantities of it were
sent to Leith and London; but the quarries have been
discontinued for some time. Pebbles of green serpentine,
also, are found along the shore; they are susceptible of
a high polish, and are formed into various elegant trinkets.
The quoad sacra parish of lona, erected by authority of
act of parliament, comprises, besides the island, a district
of Mull containing a population of 620 persons: it is in
the presbytery of Mull and synod of Argyll. The minister's
stipend is £120, paid by government; with a manse,
and a glebe valued at £1. 10. per annum: patron, the
Crown. lona church, erected in 1828, at a cost of
£700, is a neat structure containing 266 sittings. The
members of the Free Church have a place of worship. A
school, for which an appropriate building was erected by
the ducal family of Argyll, is supported by government;
and in the Mull district of the quoad sacra parish is a
school maintained by the Society for Propagating Christian
Knowledge.