Reference
Date 2001
Event ID 820427
Category Documentary Reference
Type Reference
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/820427
NM22SE 5.03 2867 2451
In addition to those crosses and other carved stones preserved in the Abbey Museum, a number remain in a number of locations around the Abbey buildings:
(Iona no.13) Abbey Church, S choir-aisle. Part of a worn slab, 0.67m by 0.43m, bearing a thinly-incised Latin cross with forked terminals. On each side of the cross is a single vertical line, that on the left being largely obliterated.
(Iona no.17) About 7m S of St Martin's Cross, with other medieval graveslabs. Irregular slab, 1.65m by 0.36m, which bears at each end a Greek cross with barred terminals.
(Iona no.28) Abbey Church, S transept. Fragment of a slab, 0.32m by 0.16m, bearing a raised Latin cross.
(Iona no.38) Abbey Church, S choir-aisle. Part of a slab, 0.90m by 0.40m, bearing a ringed cross with square slightly-sunk armpits. The shaft is much flaked but appears to have had an open foot. A groove has been scored down the centre of the stem of the cross-head.
(Iona no.48) Abbey, re-used in 1875 as a door-lintel at the foot of the refectory stair. Part of a slab, now whitewashed, bearing faint traces of a ringed cross with rounded and sunken armpits.
(Iona no.49) Abbey, incorporated in the paving in front of 'St Columba's Shrine'. Irregularly-shaped slab, 1.52m by 0.50m, bearing a ringed cross with rounded sunken armpits.
(Iona no.62) S transept, E wall. Fragment of a slab of fine-grained sandstone, 0.15m by 0.09m. On face (a) is part of a ringed cross with rounded armpits and beaded edges, carved in relief, and on face (b) a linear incised cross.
(Iona no.66) Lost; formerly at the Abbey. Slab measuring 0.47m by 0.37m, recorded by Dryden in 1877. It bore in false relief a ringed cross with square armpits, framed between two narrow vertical sunk panels. The shaft was slightly wider below the cross-head than within it, and the extremity of the upper arm appears to have been splayed. (Dryden MS 3, no.12).
(Iona no.72) Abbey Church, S transept. Fragment of a cruciform stone, 0.31m by 0.19m. One side-arm is intact and measures 0.05m in length.
(Iona no. 78) Abbey Church, S transept. Cross-slab, broken at the junction of shaft and head which is itself broken vertically; 1.09m in length including a tenoned butt, with a shaft 0.24m wide and a disc 0.37m in diameter. One face bears a ringed cross with rounded sunken armpits; its lower limb, and a 25mm margin, are incised on the shaft of the slab, whereas the head is carved on the disc in false relief within a raised margin. The arms extend to the edge of the disc, and a broken area at the top may indicate the former position of a projecting finial.
(Iona no. 79) Abbey Church, S transept. Head of a small disc-headed cross-slab of sandstone, much weathered, 0.24m in diameter and 65mm thick. On one face is a ringed cross with wide rounded armpits; the ends of the arms project slightly beyond the perimeter. The three surviving arms are of unequal width, and the carving may have represented a crucifix. The centres of the cantons form ovoid bosses.
(Iona no. 89) Abbey Church, S transept; found in Reilig Odhrain in 1972. Sandstone shaft-fragment, 0.54m by 0.27m. Each face is framed between 45mm angle-mouldings, whereas the edges are plain. On face (a) there are two human figures below a legless creature whose outstretched arms return downwards as protecting wings. The figures are flanked by vertical posts, perhaps the side-posts of a chair or throne, and the scene probably depicts ecclesiastics sheltered by a guardian angel. Face (b) bears the feet and lower part of the legs of two confronted human figures, above two panels of interlace, the upper one being an eight-strand plait and the lower one perhaps incorporating human figures or animal-heads.
(Iona no. 100) Abbey Church, S transept; discovered in 1976 in excavations S of 'St Columba's Shrine'. Corner of a roughly-shaped socket-stone, 0.58m by 0.40m by 0.14m thick.
(Iona no. 104) Post (B) outside E wall of Abbey Museum, and other fragments in Abbey Church, S transept. Six fragments of contorted garnet-schist, including: (A) the upper part of a 0.22m square post with bevelled apex, bearing key-ornament and, on two faces, double mouldings; (B) the lower part of a square post with massive butt, having two adjacent faces slotted and rebated and the others panelled between double mouldings; and (C) a fragment of a similar post with single mouldings. These may have belonged to a corner-post shrine, a platform supporting a heavy wooden shrine, or an open kerb round a grave. Three slabs of rectangular section (D, E, F) are each wrought with similar key-ornament and mouldings on one narrow edge and traces of a rebate on the other.
(Iona no. 106) Outside the W door of the abbey church is a block of granite, 1.32m by 0.55m and at least 0.4m high, bearing on one end a linear incised equal-armed cross with barred terminals. A shallow depression carved in the top has been described as a trough in which pilgrims washed their feet. In local tradition it was known as 'the cradle of the north wind', and was credited with the property of attracting a favourable wind.
(Iona no. 107) Built into the SW anta of 'St Columba's Shrine' is a symmetrical moulded fragment, 0.31m in visible length by 0.2m high. It tapers in thickness from 110mm above a basal flange to 70mm below a rounded top. A slot in the underside contains a rounded central channel. It may have formed part of an elongated feature such as the ridge of a mortuary house, of a type that formerly existed in Reilig Odhrain.
I Fisher 2001.
