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Publication Account

Date 1985

Event ID 1018761

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1018761

St Columba's church at Eye, the burying place of the MacLeods ofLewis, is believed to have been built on the site of the cell of St Catan, a contemporary of St Columba. The present buildings are probably medieval and clearly there are two periods of construction.

The eastern building is probably the older and is one of the largest pre-Reforrnation churches in the Western Isles. There are indications that the walls have been raised by over a metre and alterations made in the south wall; the original entrance near the middle of this wall is now blocked and the doorway is a later opening with a timber linel The only windows are on the south side and high in the east gable. The west end is pierced by a round-headed doorway leading to the smaller building. Local red sandstone is incorporated in its doors and windows. There is a blocked entrance on the south side of this building, and there have been windows in both side walls and the west wall; below the window, in the west gable, is an arched recess which may once have held a tomb.

Two carved stones are now clamped to the walls of the larger building. One depicts a warrior in a quilted coat, wearing a pointed helmet and grasping a spear and sword. The carving is probably 15th century and is popularly supposed to represent Roderick, 7th chief of the MacLeods of Lewis. The stone opposite, carved with a complex group of animals and foliage, has a Latin inscription which, in translation reads: 'Here lies Margareta, daughter of Rodericus MacLeod of Lewis, widow of Lachlan MacKinnon. She died in 1503'.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Argyll and the Western Isles’, (1985).

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