Yet Another Bell Stolen

I recently learned some sad news. Twenty years ago I visited a unique island in Loch Shiel, a dozen miles southwest of the Glenfinnan Monument. This small island has two names: An t-Eilean Uaine (the Green Isle), and Eilean Fhianain (St Finnan's Isle). I wrote about the visit in chapter 20 of book 1, and the highlight was seeing Clag Fhianain, a bronze handbell that has rested on the altar of Isle Finnan for several centuries. 

The sad news was that the bell was stolen from Eilean Fhianain in 2019. There is a scorching place in hell waiting for the thief, and he will have a lot of bell-thieving company. The loss of Clag Fhianain is just one in the long list of Celtic handbells that have been stole over the years. There is St Kenneth's Bell, taken from Inchkenneth in the late 1700s, St Kessog's Bell, which went missing from Loch Lomond in the 1800s, and St Modan's Bell last seen at Ardchattan. Prior to the loss of Finnan's Bell, the most recent theft was when St Adamnan's Bell was stolen from Insh Church in September of 2017. I visited Insh in 1995 to see the bell, and was surprised to find it mounted on the church wall, completely unattended.

Although there are curses, and legends, that these bells always find their way home, I don't have high hopes that they will be recovered. But, just perhaps, at some point in the future these low-life thieves will die an unpleasant death, and their families will discover the bells hidden in dusty closets and return them. That's what happened to the Clanranald Stone, stolen from Howmore on North Uist in 1990. Five years later the heavy stone was found in a London closet after the thief died. It is now back in the Western Isles where it belongs. One can hope a similar fate awaits the bells, and the thieves, of Isle Finnan and Insh.

St Finnan's View to Eigg and Rum

Here are two photos taken from the top of Beinn Breac, on the east side of Ardnamurchan. The first shows the view looking to the northwest; Rum is in the far distance, and in front of it you can see Eigg. From this elevation, around 1000 feet, the notch of the notched isle (Eigg) can be seen. The second photo shows the view looking northeast towards Invermoidart. 

I climbed Beinn Breac for two reasons. The first was that it is known as St Finnan's seat, where he rested on his walk to Loch Shiel after coming to Scotland, and I wanted to see the view he had. And quite an amazing view it is. The second reason was that somewhere near Beinn Breac there are inauguration-footprints carved in stone, similar to the one on Dunadd. But I could not find them.

Looking towards Eigg and Rum

Looking northeast from Beinn Breac

The MacVarish Crosses - Isle Finnan

It took me several years to make it An t-Eilean Uaine, the Green Isle of Loch Shiel. The first time I tried to get to the island there was not a boatman to be found, and all I could see from the mainland were the two crosses shown in the photo below. From a distance they looked human.

Many years after that distant glimpse of the crosses I finally made it to the island. The highlight was to see the old hand bell on the altar of St Finnan's Chapel. But it was just as exciting to finally see the crosses up close. They were carved by Donald Mor MacVarish in the 18th century, and it is not known whose graves they mark. But whoever they were, those buried here are blessed with two of the most beautiful memorials I have ever seen in an island burial ground - memorials that will stand forever on the Green Isle of St Finnan.

The Macvarish Crosses