Iona, St Ronan's Church

NM22SE 22.01 28498 24117

The following early medieval sculptured stones are displayed in St Ronan's Church (the Nunnery Museum), which was fitted with purpose-built storage in 1995. The locations given below were revised in 1998, but are subject to further alteration.

(Iona 15) St Ronan's Church, S wall. Fragment of the head and shaft of a cruciform stone with slightly rounded armpits. In 1874 it measured 0.41m by 0.28m across the arms, but the lowest 0.10m of the shaft has since been lost. On one face is a crudely incised Latin cross with forked terminals, while on the other face are faint traces of another possible incised cross.

(36) St Ronan's Church, S wall. Fragment of a thin slab, 0.49m by 0.44m, bearing a ringed cross with square armpits.

(39) Outside the N wall of St Ronan's Church; formerly incorporated in the threshold. Irregular slab, 1.70m by 0.74m. It bears a crudely-incised ringed cross with small circular depressions at the intersection of the cross-arms, which do not project beyond the outer circle of the ring.

(41) St Ronan's Church, N wall. Incomplete slab of sandstone, 0.70m by 0.42m, trimmed for re-use and exhibiting a later socket. It bears faint traces of a ringed cross having one arm-end barred.

(43) St Ronan's Church, S wall. Fragment of a slab, 0.61m by 0.46m, bearing an incised T-shaped outline, probably representing the base and part of the shaft of a cross (cf. nos.42, 47). The shaft has a beaded outline.

(47) St Ronan's Church, S wall; formerly incorporated in the paving in front of 'St Columba's Shrine'. Broken slab, 1.3m by 0.52m, bearing a ringed cross with rounded and sunken armpits. The shaft has a rectangular base and is ornamented with two pairs of oval depressions, the lower pair enclosed within a bulbous expansion. On the right is the inscription: OR(OIT) DO L[OI(N)]GS[E]CAN ('A prayer for Loingsechan'). Professor K H Jackson suggested a late 8th or 9th-century date.

(58) St Ronan's Church, S wall. Rectangular slab of sandstone, 1.08m by 0.52m, cut from a larger slab bearing a crudely-incised ringed cross with rounded armpits and expanded foot. There are bosses on the inner side of the ring.

(65) St Ronan's Church, E wall; formerly in the Nunnery Church (NM22SE 14). Two fragments of a sandstone slab, apparently cruciform and about 0.61 m by 0.32m. Early drawings show that within a raised margin there was a ringed or disc-headed cross. The surface is so weathered that it is impossible to verify Dryden's identification of hollows at the angles and centre of the cross-head. (J Drummond 1881, pl.10, 1; Dryden MS 8, no.9b).

(67) St Ronan's Church, S wall; formerly at the Abbey (NM22SE 5). Fragment of a slab, 0.46m by 0.19m, bearing an incomplete outline cross with rounded armpits. The foot of the shaft, the only terminal to survive, divides into a triquetra knot.

(73) St Ronan's Church, S wall. Undecorated cruciform stone, 0.34m across the arms and 0.35m high. About 0.12m has been broken off the shaft since 1874.

(81) St Ronan's Church, S wall; identified in Reilig Odhrain (NM22SE 10) in 1978. Upper part of the shaft of a large ringless cross with rounded armpits, 1.05m by 0.54m, and 0.44m between the armpits; the thickness of 0.16m appears to be incomplete. The surviving face has a 50mm margin but no identifiable ornament. The top edge retains traces of a shallow hollow, but there is no evidence of a former tenon. The fragment is identical in size and shape with the corresponding part of St Oran's Cross (NM22SE 4.07, no.80), while its material resembles that used for the upper parts of the latter.

(85) St Ronan's Church, S wall. An eroded fragment of sandstone, 0.42m by 0.29m and at least 0.14m thick. It bears the central boss, 0.22m in diameter, of a cross with pierced round armpits; no ornament can be identified. The material and thickness suggest that this fragment was associated with the cross-shaft no.90.

(90) St Ronan's Church, S wall; formerly in Reilig Odhrain (NM22SE 10). Much-damaged sandstone cross-shaft fragment, 0.75m by 0.29m, with 40mm angle-mouldings. One face appears to show two confronted figures separated by a vertical feature, possibly the tree of the Garden of Eden although it may represent a third person. Below this group there is a single ?human figure with one arm raised to the head. The ornament of the other face has been obliterated.

(91) St Ronan's Church, S wall. Sandstone fragment, 0.24m square and 0.11m thick, now almost totally eroded. In 1982 it retained traces of interlace on one face and one curved edge bore a raised 25mm margin. The fragment may have been part of the head or arm of a free-standing cross.

(105) St Ronan's Church, N wall. Two sandstone posts, both worn but complete. One (A) is 0.69m by 0.19m square and has a circular hollow on the slightly rounded top. In one face is a slot 0.47m by 70mm and 50mm deep, and in an adjacent face a slot 55mm wide, which begins at the same top level but is only 0.35m long. The second post (B) presents a mirror-image, 0.67 m by 0.22m by 0.16m; the slot on the wider face was about 0.51m long and the other is 0.36m long. The top of the post is pitted, but shows no traces of any artificial hollow.

See also stone (no.1A) now in the Abbey (NM22SE 5).

I Fisher 2001.