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Field Visit

Date September 1980

Event ID 1121924

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1121924

Early Christian Monastery, Iona

Early visitors to Iona believed that the original monastery founded by St Columba in the 6th century was represented by the buildings of the medieval abbey (NM22SE 5). The existence of other significant remains was first noted in 1772 by Pennant who, after describing an earthwork NW of the Abbey, added 'the whole of their religious buildings were covered on the north side by dikes' (1). During the early 19th century there was a growing appreciation of the medieval date of the standing buildings, coupled with an awareness that the structures described in Adomnàn's Life of Columba were constructed of impermanent materials, but continuity in the occupation of the site, and particularly of the burial ground, Reilig Odhràin (NM22SE 10), was assumed by scholars such as Reeves (2). This traditional location was, however, challenged by W F Skene (3) who argued, mainly on the basis of his interpretation of certain incidents recorded by Adomnàn, that the Columban monastery was situated about 380m to the NNE, in the area between Clachanach (NM286248) and Cladh an Disirt (NM22SE 7). He also suggested that the settlement was transferred to the abbey area and rebuilt in stone in the 9th century, after Norse attacks had destroyed the earlier monastery. Skene was aware of the existence of the earthwork described by Pennant, some 200m NW of the Abbey, but he failed to distinguish it from other features , probably old raised-beach terraces, extending to the NE, and did not examine in detail its relevance to his theory. His views enjoyed general acceptance for half a century (4), although they were disputed by one Irish scholar, who pointed out that Adomnàn's topography was too imprecise to support the conclusions drawn from it and proposed a small Columban settlement in the w part of Reilig Odhràin (5).

Fresh light was cast on the problem in 1933 by O G S Crawford (6), who demonstrated by field-survey that the earthwork mentioned above, which could be identified as part of the vallum or rampart of the early monastery, returned to the SE some 50m s of Clachanach, excluding the site favoured by Skene, and that its W limb extended at least as far S as Reilig Odhràin. The vallum was further investigated in the late 1950s by Professor A C Thomas, who excavated a cross-section W of Cnoc nan Cirnan; several other ditches were identified in the abbey area, but the interpretation of these as sections of a continuous boundary (7) can no longer be sustained. During the preparation of the present account, detailed ground-survey and further excavation have been supplemented by aerial photography and by geophysical survey, especially in the area S of the Abbey where there are no visible surface remains. This investigation shows that the vallum was a complex system of boundaries, probably representing more than one period of construction and incorporating internal subdivisions.

The internal structures of the early monastery have also been examined in a series of excavations on behalf of the Russell Trust, begun in 1956 under the direction of Professor Thomas, and continued since 1962 by Dr R Reece and Mr M Redknap; further excavations were carried out in1979 by the Central Excavation Unit of the Scottish Development Department, under the direction of Mr J Barber. These have revealed remains of timber buildings, working-areas and other occupation-deposits, in the area between Reilig Odhràin, Tórr an Aba and the Abbey, and there can no longer be any doubt that the Columban monastery was situated close to, and partly underneath, its medieval successor. The following description is confined mainly to the physical evidence for the pre-Benedictine monastery. The important series of memorial and other carved stones is described on [RCAHMS 1982] pp. 179-219.

See RCAHMS 1982 31-49 for a full description of the site, the vallum, internal structures and a history.

RCAHMS 1982, visited September 1980

(1) Pennant, Tour (1772),1,296.

(2) Adamnan, Columba (Reeves), 361

(3) Skene, W F, 'Notes on the history and probable situation of the earlier establishments at Iona ... ', in PSAS, 11 (1874-6), 330-49; Skene, Celtic Scotland, 2, 95-101, pl. opp. p. 100.

(4) E.g. Eccles. Arch., 3, 47 ; MacMillan, Iona, 87-9; Trenholme, Iona, 27,99-103; Ritchie, Iona, 7.

(5) O'Reilly, P, 'The site of Columb's monastery on Iona', in JRSAI, 30 (1900), 334-42.

(6) Antiquity, 7 (1933),460-3.

(7) Thomas, Early Christian Archaeology, 30-1 , fig. 8.

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