St Clement's Church, view from SE.

Description St Clement's Church, view from SE.

Date 1924

Catalogue Number SC 793762

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content St Clement's Church, Rodel, Harris, Western Isles, from south-east St Clement's Church, which dates to 1528, has windows which are mainly square-headed. However, the east window, seen here, has a pointed arch with three trefoil-headed lights, or compartments. Above the lights there is a wheel window which has six 'spokes'. St Clement's Church was built by Alastair Crotach MacLeod of Dunvegan and Harris, who was later buried there. Prior to 1494, clan chiefs such as MacLeod would have been buried in Iona, the religious centre of the Lordship of the Isles. With the break-up of the Lordship the individual chiefs began to build their own churches, such as St Clement's. Lewis and Harris are both parts of the same island, collectively known as 'the Long Island', which is the most northerly in the Outer Hebrides. Together they are about 95km in length and around 32km at the widest point. Most of Lewis is quite low-lying, whereas Harris is mountainous. Rodel, or Roghadel, comes from the Old Norse and means 'Red Dale'. The local soil is unlike that in the rest of Harris, being red in colour and very fertile. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

External Reference Inv. Fig. 82

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/793762

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap