Iona and Staffa
Iona is a special place which always radiates warmth and cheer even on a wet and windy day. This morning, after the mist and murk of St Kilda the previous day, the sun was shining again, and Iona was as delightful as it could possibly be. Since 1938, the island has been home to the Iona Community, an ecumenical Christian movement that draws inspiration from the island's Celtic Christian past. Many of the people we met on the island were there on retreat and some of us chose to attend the short daily morning service in the Abbey.
Our tour started at St Martin's Cross, a decorated High Cross that has proudly proclaimed the Christian faith since it was first erected in that very same spot back in the seventh century. It is the original Celtic cross, from which so many others were derived, particularly those fashionable in the Celtic Revival at the end of the nineteenth century. A curious feature of the Callanais megalithic monument we had visited just two days ago is that its outline closely resembles the shape of St Martin's Cross. After touring the interior of the Abbey, we were free to explore on our own. Some visited the adjacent St Oran's Chapel, the oldest ecclesiastical building on the island and an excellent example of the Romanesque style, with its celebrated graveyard where the mediaeval kings of Scotland, Norway and the Lords of the Isles lie buried. Others rummaged in the bookshops, that of the Iona Community itself containing a fine selection of books on feminist, green and radical theology, subjects closely associated with the community today. There were splendid opportunities for walks, looking out across the sound to the much larger Isle of Mull.
Beside the road leading back to the landing stands MacLean's Cross (pictured), considerably later in date than the two High Crosses beside the Abbey but no less impressive with its finely wrought Celtic interlacing design. Behind it is a "kit church", one of many of identical design prepared by the great Scottish engineer Thomas Telford, in fulfillment of a government commission to provide places for Protestant worship in this part of the country following the Highland Clearances. For beneath the peaceful surface of contemporary Iona, as in so many other scenic spots throughout the Highlands, lies a darker story. In 1826, the entire population of Iona was cleared of its population to rid the area of Catholics and to make way for sheep. Peace and tranquility then, but is it also possible to detect a strain of melancholy beneath the surface?
Iona is a special place which always radiates warmth and cheer even on a wet and windy day. This morning, after the mist and murk of St Kilda the previous day, the sun was shining again, and Iona was as delightful as it could possibly be. Since 1938, the island has been home to the Iona Community, an ecumenical Christian movement that draws inspiration from the island's Celtic Christian past. Many of the people we met on the island were there on retreat and some of us chose to attend the short daily morning service in the Abbey.
Our tour started at St Martin's Cross, a decorated High Cross that has proudly proclaimed the Christian faith since it was first erected in that very same spot back in the seventh century. It is the original Celtic cross, from which so many others were derived, particularly those fashionable in the Celtic Revival at the end of the nineteenth century. A curious feature of the Callanais megalithic monument we had visited just two days ago is that its outline closely resembles the shape of St Martin's Cross. After touring the interior of the Abbey, we were free to explore on our own. Some visited the adjacent St Oran's Chapel, the oldest ecclesiastical building on the island and an excellent example of the Romanesque style, with its celebrated graveyard where the mediaeval kings of Scotland, Norway and the Lords of the Isles lie buried. Others rummaged in the bookshops, that of the Iona Community itself containing a fine selection of books on feminist, green and radical theology, subjects closely associated with the community today. There were splendid opportunities for walks, looking out across the sound to the much larger Isle of Mull.
Beside the road leading back to the landing stands MacLean's Cross (pictured), considerably later in date than the two High Crosses beside the Abbey but no less impressive with its finely wrought Celtic interlacing design. Behind it is a "kit church", one of many of identical design prepared by the great Scottish engineer Thomas Telford, in fulfillment of a government commission to provide places for Protestant worship in this part of the country following the Highland Clearances. For beneath the peaceful surface of contemporary Iona, as in so many other scenic spots throughout the Highlands, lies a darker story. In 1826, the entire population of Iona was cleared of its population to rid the area of Catholics and to make way for sheep. Peace and tranquility then, but is it also possible to detect a strain of melancholy beneath the surface?
