Archaeology Notes
Event ID 673696
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/673696
NM22SE 4.00 centred 286 244
St Mary's Abbey
and remains of
Abbey
(Benedictine-founded 1203)
on site of
Celtic Monastery [NAT]
OS (GIS) MasterMap, November 2009.
NM22SE 4.01 NM 2861 2453 Torr an Aba 'Cell'; Building; Cross-base
NM22SE 4.02 NM 286 244 Vallum Enclosure; Sanctuary marker
NM22SE 4.03 NM 2861 2450 Columba's Shrine Shrine
NM22SE 4.04 NM 28632 24504 St Martin's Cross Cross
NM22SE 4.05 NM 2865 2450 St John's Cross Cross
NM22SE 4.06 NM 2865 2450 St Matthew's Cross Cross
NM22SE 4.07 NM 286 244 St Oran's Cross Cross
NM22SE 4.08 NM 28636 24531 Old Guest House Excavation
NM22SE 4.09 NM 28578 24565 Guest House Excavation
NM22SE 4.10 NM 28648 24551 Carpenter's Shed Excavation
NM22SE 4.11 NM 28665 24558 Working Area Excavation
For (restored) Iona Abbey or St Mary's Cathedral (NM 2867 2451) and Nunnery (NM 2843 2410), see NM22SE 5 and NM22SE 14 respectively.
(Area: NM 286 245) A monastery was founded on Iona by St Columba in 563 and existed until about the turn of the 8th - 9th centuries when the wooden complex was destroyed by Norse raiders. After periodic rebuilding in wood and destruction, the monastery was rebuilt in stone and survived comparatively intact until 986 when it was again destroyed.
Queen Margaret (1069-93) is said to have attempted to restore the monastery and another attempt at restoration was made in 1164 in which year Culdees are mentioned, but the dispersion of the possessions of the monastery may have begun in the reign of William the Lion (1172-8) and there is no record of the Celtic community after 1204.
Of the original monastery nothing remains above ground except possibly the vallum (NM22SE 4.02) and the cell on Tor Abb (NM22SE 4.01), but excavations, which have been taking place since 1957, firstly by Thomas (1957; 1959) and later by Reece (undated), sponsored by the Russell Trust and DoE, have shown that the Columban monastery, which consisted of about a dozen huts and a small church, lay in the vicinity of the Abbey buildings, especially of the Abbot's House, the Refectory, the cloisters and the west part of the Cathedral. Sleeper-beam trenches and post-holes also suggest the existence of large wooden buildings in the small field between the Abbey and the Relig Oran (NM22SE 10) and south of the "Old Guest House" (NM 2864 2452) between Tor Abb and the Abbey. Beside and beneath the last was an empty cist lying N-S and measuring only 1.5m x 0.3m.
A working site of the Columban period was excavated about 10 yds N of the rebuilt 'Abbot's House' (NM 2868 2454) but its purpose was not established. Possibly from the same period is the well outside the west door of the church. It is surrounded by a wide foundation, which could have carried a high building - an Irish-type round tower has been suggested.
A few grave-slabs of the 7th and 8th centuries, generally simple incised or outline crosses, occur, some of them now just outside "St Columba's Shrine" (NM22SE 4.03). Evidence of the Norse presence is provided by
the finding of a Viking cremation in a boat-shaped grave on the bank of the Vallum near the graveyard, and a later incised Runic cross of about 1000.
A small, stone building whose NW corner is still visible at the SE corner of the cloister garth may be the church of the later stone-built monastery. Its orientation and the mass burial of skeletons found against the walls in 1957 support this theory. A large rectangular building, lying N-S and now overlain by the crossing of the Cathedral, may also have belonged to this phase, as do the high crosses (NM22SE 4.04, NM22SE 4.05, NM22SE 4.06, NM22SE 4.07 ) and certain cross-bases.
D E Easson 1957; I B Cowan 1964; D M Wilson and D G Hurst 1965; D M Wilson 1967; D M Wilson 1969.
Apart from the remains on Tor an Aba and the Vallum, no ground evidence of the Celtic Monastery survives.
Visited by OS (RD) 9 June 1972.
Wooden turning-wasters.
J Barber 1984.
Interference by recently completed developments and the prospect of further development work in the vicinity of the Abbey necessitated excavation in four areas. Two of these, immediately NW of the modern coffee house and on the southern bank of Sruth a'Mhuilinn immediately opposite Tigh an Easbuig, produced no deposits of archaeological significance.
A large area, c10m by 12m, was excavated immediately NW of the abbey buildings, partially overlapping earlier excavations in the area undertaken by Reece. The upper level consisted of a very thick layer of an artificially made medieval garden soil. The lower levels of the layer produced small quantitites of pottery, possibly of English origin, and dating to circa the 15th century. The lower levels also produced several metal objects and a large sample of animal bone.
The creation of this garden soil resulted in the truncation of many earlier features. Inserted into the underlying subsoil were two spreads of cobblestones and a stone drain. The latter was lintelled and drystone walled. Its orientation indicated that it originally would have led to the reredorter or latrine block of the medieval abbey complex to which it carried fresh water.
(See NM22SE 4.2 for fourth excavation on vallum.)
F McCormick 1989.
A small area was excavated inside the "infirmary" in anticipation of the re-erection of St John's Cross (NM22SE 4.05). No structures were present but finds from the ploughsoil include crucible fragments and medieval pottery.
F McCormick 1990.
Site recorded by AOC (Scotland) Ltd during an archaeological survey of the lands controlled by the National Trust for Scotland on Iona. This survey was conducted in late May and early April of 1996. The full report of this survey has been deposited with both the local SMR and the NMRS.
NM 2856 2469 Vallum, abbey, burial ground
NM 2863 2476 Structure and enclosure
Sponsor: National Trust for Scotland
T Rees 1996.
